HB 1474, the Louisiana Healthcare Freedom Act, which would make it illegal to force an individual to purchase health insurance, passed the Senate today by a 28-4 vote.

The bill will now go to Gov. Jindal for his signature. Jindal is expected to sign the bill.

HB 1474, authored by Rep. Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge) passed the House overwhelmingly earlier this month, and survived a 5-4 committee vote last week. Senate President Joel Chaisson attempted to bury it by recommitting it to the Senate Finance Committee, which had earlier in the session killed a similar Senate bill by Sen. A.G. Crowe (R-Slidell), but citizen outrage brought it back to the Senate floor. Today it passed overwhelmingly.