Hours after Congress approved a massive health care reform bill, a Summit County lawmaker said the state Legislature would likely opt out of the new federal mandates if that were an option.

“I think it would be something we would look at,” said Rep Mel Brown, R-Coalville. “If it becomes so onerous that it looks like we could operate a more efficient system in our state, then I think we would take a look at opting out.”

President Barack Obama signed the health care bill Tuesday morning. Some say the legislation represents the biggest expansion of the federal government’s social safety net since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in 1965 to provide government-funded health care coverage to the elderly and poor.

The bill does not provide universal health care but it should expand coverage to about 95 percent of eligible Americans, compared with 83 percent today.

“The devil is in the details, and nobody really knows the details yet,” Brown said about the health reforms.

The legislation passed the House with a 219-212 vote. There were no Republicans who supported the measure.

“It pretty well focused on party lines,” Brown said in a telephone interview Monday.

State lawmakers have not seriously considered whether Utah can opt out of the health reforms. Under the legislation, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused. That mandate could take effect in 2014.

But requiring all citizens to buy insurance amounts to the federal government telling people what to do, said Orem resident Jim Trego in an interview Tuesday at Park City Medical Center.

“I don’t think that is right,” Trego said. “I don’t think it’s constitutional to force people to buy something that they don’t like.”

Utah should try to opt out of the federal mandates, he said.

The state has joined others in challenging the federal health care legislation, according to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

“This health care bill includes an unprecedented mandate that requires every U.S. citizen to buy health insurance or face a penalty. This mandate and other provisions violate the U.S. Constitution and infringe on individual and state rights,” Shurtleff said in a prepared statement. “This lawsuit will help make sure the rights and the interests of American citizens are protected.”

However, Snyderville Basin resident Stephan Foltz said he supports what Obama has tried to accomplish with the bill.

“I’m for health care. I think everybody deserves a shot at it,” Foltz said. “If it is in the best interest of the people, it’s something they should automatically be doing.”

Foltz said his friend who doesn’t have medical insurance injured his arm recently while skiing.

“He doesn’t have the money,” Foltz said. “It was pretty unfortunate.”

The health care system in America is broken, he said.

“I think everything is going to have its problems,” Foltz said. “What we have doesn’t work, so I’m open to trying something new. If we could insure 95 percent of the country, I would say, go for it.”

Utah should not be suing the federal government in order to stop the health care reforms, said Salt Lake County resident Ashtora in an interview at the hospital in Park City.

“We have a lot of things that we’re required to do and the only way you opt out of those is to opt out of society,” Ashtora said. “I think we need to be figuring out ways to make it better.”

“I think it’s about insurance reform. It’s not about socialism. I really respect our president for having the courage to take on the big insurance corporations,” she said.

Meanwhile, an opt-out provision for states is not part of the reform bill Obama signed on Tuesday, a spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told The Park Record.

Hatch said he supports Utah joining other states in suing the federal government over some provisions in the bill.

“Congress has overstepped its legal authority by telling Utahns and other Americans that they must buy health insurance or else,” Hatch said in a prepared statement.

Associated Press contributed to this report.