Missouri House passes health care resolution

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri House has passed a resolution urging state officials to join a multistate lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul and calling on Congress to repeal the law.

The House approved the resolution Tuesday on a vote of 115-46.

The resolution also urges Missouri's attorney general to defend a voter-approved law that bars the government from requiring people to have health insurance or penalizing them for not having it. The federal law requires that most people have health insurance or face penalties starting in 2014.

House Republican Ward Franz, of West Plains, is the sponsor of the resolution. He says many Missourians oppose the federal health care overhaul.

Critics of the resolution contend the federal law will improve the nation's health care.