Let the games begin. Whatever side you are on, this will be an historic event. A reminder that while our system is still not perfect, it is still a great country we live in where we peacefully settle our disputes.
This may also test the Separations of Powers in the Constitution. If the Supreme Court shoots down the bill and the Administration and the President continues down the road of Executive Order and does their own thing, what penalty will they pay for defying the Court? They believe the Constitution is a living document and it can be interpreted however they want and it is mostly outdated. The Court had better get this right or there will be big trouble in this country.
While this will be an historic event, it seems to me the outcome will tell us how great our country still is…or isn’t. This country was founde on the primary principles of personal freedom, religious freedom, and a system of federalism, in which the states are “laboratories of freedom” and the federal government restricted to specifically outlinedactivities and responsibilities.
Obamacare is yet another in a long, long string of assaults on individual libery, religious freedoms and the rights of states within the federalist system, as outlined in the Constitution. Yet another attempt by leftists to kill individual liberty.
Unfortunately, leftists are turning America into a Hell hole, killing American freedoms, one after the other. Why? For power and control…nothing more. If the disgusting stick on the eye of the American populace that is Obamacare is allowed to stand, America is truly and completely gone. You and your doctor will have NO POWER to determine your own care. Rather, an unelected beuracrat, appointed by Obama/Sebelius, will alone decide if you live or die.
The question is – Does our Constitution mean anything anymore? Is it the Supreme Law of the Land? The President has roundly criticized it because he says it is full of what we can’t do instead of what we can do. Guess what, most laws in this country are what we can’t do. That is how we keep the order in the country. We don’t want a Constitution which allows a President or Administration to do whatever they want, trample on our rights and seek to control every aspect of our lives. This is what Obamacare is all about, control. It must be repealed.
Yes, this is a time where everyone should me on the edges of their seats, and it doesn’t matter where you voted or what your current belief is on this issue. The primary focus, in years of abject absence of the ability of the legislatures to draft a functional compromise, we now will rely of the Supreme Court, members of which by oath, have sworn to uphold the Constitution. The real test is do they have the intregity to apply the Constitution or will they show their feet are made of sand.
In America’s quest for equality within the republic, we must guard against the miscomprehension of equality. Equality in the hearts and minds of our founders, was the vision of individual incentive with all people being equally endowed to rise to their fullest degree of happiness through their own endeavors. We must resist the centralized tyranny of forced political and social equality that circumvent the individual’s rights to determining their own manifest destiny.
@anon: you are correct about the original intent. Societies problem today, manifested by the gov’t will to provide everything for everyone, is that so many people now look to others instead of themselves to achieve their “fullest degree of happiness”. And, most believe that more money brings more happiness. Sad state of affairs.
I don’t think this is as much as people are looking to others for happiness as they are looking for a way not to have to choose whether to live, go bankrupt, or die because they don’t have access to health care. It is also a way put some balance in system where so many uninsured people show up at the ER without any kind of way to pay for it but cannot be turned away, which results in you and me paying for it. That’s a very socialist system right there. Hey, it doesn’t make me happy in the least.
You made the comment about people showing up at the ER without any way to pay. Do you really think that is a more expensive way to go than the multi trillion dollar Obamacare plan for all Americans to pay? These people, many of them illegal aliens are the ones to claim the majority of these ER visits. They should be shipped home rather than leaching off this country. The others should be put in a state run Pool. If the Feds want to subsidize them, fine. The cost would only be a fraction of this monstrocity rammed down our throats.
All the hyperbole aside, this is a tough one to call. This law could just as easily be rejected 5 – 4 as it could be upheld 5 – 4. The thing is, nobody has been “injured” by this law (you would never guess that by these posts) as most of it has not taken affect yet. So, they may just decide not to rule at all. We won’t know until June. Anyone been injured yet by the elimation of “pre-existing condition exclusions”? I didn’t think so.
To take away the mandate to require all to purchase will only give the insurance companies leverage over rate. Their high priced actuaries will be able to say “well since now it is not required to purchase insurance you will have to charge more to remain profitable. You see insurance companies will be able to speculate that the future number of applicants is uncertain, thus adding a new equation to the acutuarial computation. A percantage of speculative number of people who will not apply for coverage.
You are all so fooled by the creative, convuluting insurance industry and our gov’t . . .how it really works.
Don’t you realize that we lost our freedom the day after the revolution.
We are forced to file and pay income tax and property tax. We are forced to by Auto liability. Businesses are forced to purchase Workers Comp. So what’s the Beef now?
If not everyone is mandated to by health insurance you can say good by to the insurance companies remaining in about 5 years. None of us will be able to afford the high price insurance and we’ll all be on the Federal Plan, which by the way provides more coverage then most plans out there now.
So your so called righteous attidude in regards to freedom of choice will slowly be replaced with a feeling of destitute.
Becuase the other thing that is currupt with our gov’t is that it takes them way to long to make laws (except if our senators and congress people or voting themselves a raise) and it takes way to long and too much money to elect someone to vote the way they told you they would vote.
It’s time to take the money out of elections.
If you want to run for an office, regardless of what it is local, state, federal. you show up with the signatures (number depending on the type of office and population). For example, to run for senator you’ll need 250,000 signatures.
Your advertising is by word of mouth and the debates on television (paid for curtesy of the tax payer).
I don’t think anyone has to first be hurt by a law for it to be ruled unconstitutional. If that were the case, Congress could pass any laws, without restriction, and then just sit back and wait for someone/some group to claim harm. The Supreme Court would be very busy indeed! An obvious example would be ex post facto laws, which are forbidden in the very first place. You need not prove harm to prove something unconstitutional.
I believe this law is unconstitutional, primarily due to the mandate (although there are probably many other troubling aspects), and any argument equating it with auto liability, workers’ comp, and even income tax falls flat – you’re not required to own a car, you’re not required to hire employees, and you’re not required to earn an income – in effect, all of these other oft-cited “mandates” are, upon closer scrutiny, actually voluntary. These “mandates” are only invoked if you CHOOSE to participate in any of those activities!
Last week an IJ article mentioned that the uninsured are costing hospital ERs $75 billion a year(which expense, of course, we all share in some way) So, whether you are for or against this particular law, it seems to fall flat on a purely economic basis: how could spending approx. $170 billion/year under this law, in order to save $75 billion/year make any fiscal sense?
Great post JB. You have your act together. There is no fiscal sense to Obamacare. What is affordable under the Affordable Care Act? The ER people should be put in a Pool with Medicaid like coverage, then they wouldn’t be totally uninsured. The premiums for those who have regular plans would then stabilize instead of continuing the ever increasing premium cycle. This Healthcare reform could have been done with Tort Reform, allowing companies to sell across state lines and providing for Pools to cover the uninsured, even those with pre-existing conditions and it would have been far better than what we ended up with.
No, actually it does far more than that. The mandates will penalize everyone who chooses not to buy coverage, the bill was re-scored by the CBO and it is going to cost twice as much as first scored thereby sending the country into bankruptcy, will kill jobs as employers lay off people to get under the 50 employee requirement. Many employers plan to drop coverage altogether for their employees due to the cost and pay a fine if they have to. Tell me Comrade, how is this improving Healthcare in this country? The Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable.
How far have we strayed?
During the drafting of the constitution there appeared two sides, the “Federalists” and those that thought the Articles of Confederation only needed to be adjusted. Those on the “Articles” side favored a weak central governement and strong state governements. The “Federalists” wanted a stronger federal government. Of course the “Federalists” won and we have our current constitution.
My point? This was as far as anyone wanted the federal governement to go.
There was no socialist side like we have today.
You are right. We have a country of center right who are being governed by a minority of far left zealots. In November, we need to retire these and their followers and get back to Conservative values that our founders envisioned. The Federal Government is far too intrusive in our lives and needs to be scaled way back and cut in half or we won’t survive as a country or we will be Greece or Venezuela in the next few years.
ComradeAnon,
Please explain in great detail with links how government taking income from from targeted individuals and distributing it to other targeted individuals isn’t Socialism.
This is about ‘Rule of Law’. If the court doesn’t not strike the mandate, they will be activists and it will be unconstitutional. They are in effect ‘nullifying’ over 200 years of law and saying the government is all powerful and can do anything it wants, without limit. Is this what anyone wants? It will also be the signal for all the crazies and loons to come out of the woodwork. Because they will be justified, as we will no longer be a government ‘Of The People’ under ‘Rule of Law’.
What we need is a true healthcare reform law, with billing, coverage, and rewards for participation, without a mandate. Everyone can afford healthcare – but – the government has not properly set the stage with choice/reform. We need to be able to purchase coverage across state lines, from exchanges, in pieces, and DIRECTLY from healthcare providers. WHY do we need insurance getting between a clinic and us? Anybody with a job, even on minimum wage could afford direct coverage from a clinic for $50/month, if only we were allowed to purchase it.
You are right Architect. A pool could have been set up in every state to insure the uninsured at a fraction of the cost. Instead, we are being subjected to a one size fits all mandated monstrocity which is sure to bankrupt the country as well as give the Federal Government control over our lives. The Progressives have been working toward this control for 100 years. If the Supremes or the new Republican President doesn’t undo this, the country will be doomed to be like Cuba or Venezuela in a few short years.
This will tell us if Soros or the American people own this country.
Let the games begin. Whatever side you are on, this will be an historic event. A reminder that while our system is still not perfect, it is still a great country we live in where we peacefully settle our disputes.
This may also test the Separations of Powers in the Constitution. If the Supreme Court shoots down the bill and the Administration and the President continues down the road of Executive Order and does their own thing, what penalty will they pay for defying the Court? They believe the Constitution is a living document and it can be interpreted however they want and it is mostly outdated. The Court had better get this right or there will be big trouble in this country.
Will be big trouble????
While this will be an historic event, it seems to me the outcome will tell us how great our country still is…or isn’t. This country was founde on the primary principles of personal freedom, religious freedom, and a system of federalism, in which the states are “laboratories of freedom” and the federal government restricted to specifically outlinedactivities and responsibilities.
Obamacare is yet another in a long, long string of assaults on individual libery, religious freedoms and the rights of states within the federalist system, as outlined in the Constitution. Yet another attempt by leftists to kill individual liberty.
Unfortunately, leftists are turning America into a Hell hole, killing American freedoms, one after the other. Why? For power and control…nothing more. If the disgusting stick on the eye of the American populace that is Obamacare is allowed to stand, America is truly and completely gone. You and your doctor will have NO POWER to determine your own care. Rather, an unelected beuracrat, appointed by Obama/Sebelius, will alone decide if you live or die.
The question is – Does our Constitution mean anything anymore? Is it the Supreme Law of the Land? The President has roundly criticized it because he says it is full of what we can’t do instead of what we can do. Guess what, most laws in this country are what we can’t do. That is how we keep the order in the country. We don’t want a Constitution which allows a President or Administration to do whatever they want, trample on our rights and seek to control every aspect of our lives. This is what Obamacare is all about, control. It must be repealed.
This was passed by Congress. And I’m waiting for you to give up your health care to prove your rights.
Yes, this is a time where everyone should me on the edges of their seats, and it doesn’t matter where you voted or what your current belief is on this issue. The primary focus, in years of abject absence of the ability of the legislatures to draft a functional compromise, we now will rely of the Supreme Court, members of which by oath, have sworn to uphold the Constitution. The real test is do they have the intregity to apply the Constitution or will they show their feet are made of sand.
In America’s quest for equality within the republic, we must guard against the miscomprehension of equality. Equality in the hearts and minds of our founders, was the vision of individual incentive with all people being equally endowed to rise to their fullest degree of happiness through their own endeavors. We must resist the centralized tyranny of forced political and social equality that circumvent the individual’s rights to determining their own manifest destiny.
@anon: you are correct about the original intent. Societies problem today, manifested by the gov’t will to provide everything for everyone, is that so many people now look to others instead of themselves to achieve their “fullest degree of happiness”. And, most believe that more money brings more happiness. Sad state of affairs.
I don’t think this is as much as people are looking to others for happiness as they are looking for a way not to have to choose whether to live, go bankrupt, or die because they don’t have access to health care. It is also a way put some balance in system where so many uninsured people show up at the ER without any kind of way to pay for it but cannot be turned away, which results in you and me paying for it. That’s a very socialist system right there. Hey, it doesn’t make me happy in the least.
You made the comment about people showing up at the ER without any way to pay. Do you really think that is a more expensive way to go than the multi trillion dollar Obamacare plan for all Americans to pay? These people, many of them illegal aliens are the ones to claim the majority of these ER visits. They should be shipped home rather than leaching off this country. The others should be put in a state run Pool. If the Feds want to subsidize them, fine. The cost would only be a fraction of this monstrocity rammed down our throats.
Bravo!!
YIPPIE!!!!
All the hyperbole aside, this is a tough one to call. This law could just as easily be rejected 5 – 4 as it could be upheld 5 – 4. The thing is, nobody has been “injured” by this law (you would never guess that by these posts) as most of it has not taken affect yet. So, they may just decide not to rule at all. We won’t know until June. Anyone been injured yet by the elimation of “pre-existing condition exclusions”? I didn’t think so.
To take away the mandate to require all to purchase will only give the insurance companies leverage over rate. Their high priced actuaries will be able to say “well since now it is not required to purchase insurance you will have to charge more to remain profitable. You see insurance companies will be able to speculate that the future number of applicants is uncertain, thus adding a new equation to the acutuarial computation. A percantage of speculative number of people who will not apply for coverage.
You are all so fooled by the creative, convuluting insurance industry and our gov’t . . .how it really works.
Don’t you realize that we lost our freedom the day after the revolution.
We are forced to file and pay income tax and property tax. We are forced to by Auto liability. Businesses are forced to purchase Workers Comp. So what’s the Beef now?
If not everyone is mandated to by health insurance you can say good by to the insurance companies remaining in about 5 years. None of us will be able to afford the high price insurance and we’ll all be on the Federal Plan, which by the way provides more coverage then most plans out there now.
So your so called righteous attidude in regards to freedom of choice will slowly be replaced with a feeling of destitute.
Becuase the other thing that is currupt with our gov’t is that it takes them way to long to make laws (except if our senators and congress people or voting themselves a raise) and it takes way to long and too much money to elect someone to vote the way they told you they would vote.
It’s time to take the money out of elections.
If you want to run for an office, regardless of what it is local, state, federal. you show up with the signatures (number depending on the type of office and population). For example, to run for senator you’ll need 250,000 signatures.
Your advertising is by word of mouth and the debates on television (paid for curtesy of the tax payer).
Rebecca–Tell me where in the Constitution of the United States of America it states that we are FORCED to pay taxes??
I don’t think anyone has to first be hurt by a law for it to be ruled unconstitutional. If that were the case, Congress could pass any laws, without restriction, and then just sit back and wait for someone/some group to claim harm. The Supreme Court would be very busy indeed! An obvious example would be ex post facto laws, which are forbidden in the very first place. You need not prove harm to prove something unconstitutional.
I believe this law is unconstitutional, primarily due to the mandate (although there are probably many other troubling aspects), and any argument equating it with auto liability, workers’ comp, and even income tax falls flat – you’re not required to own a car, you’re not required to hire employees, and you’re not required to earn an income – in effect, all of these other oft-cited “mandates” are, upon closer scrutiny, actually voluntary. These “mandates” are only invoked if you CHOOSE to participate in any of those activities!
Last week an IJ article mentioned that the uninsured are costing hospital ERs $75 billion a year(which expense, of course, we all share in some way) So, whether you are for or against this particular law, it seems to fall flat on a purely economic basis: how could spending approx. $170 billion/year under this law, in order to save $75 billion/year make any fiscal sense?
Great post JB. You have your act together. There is no fiscal sense to Obamacare. What is affordable under the Affordable Care Act? The ER people should be put in a Pool with Medicaid like coverage, then they wouldn’t be totally uninsured. The premiums for those who have regular plans would then stabilize instead of continuing the ever increasing premium cycle. This Healthcare reform could have been done with Tort Reform, allowing companies to sell across state lines and providing for Pools to cover the uninsured, even those with pre-existing conditions and it would have been far better than what we ended up with.
So you think the only thing ACA does is keep the uninsured out of the emergency rooms?
No, actually it does far more than that. The mandates will penalize everyone who chooses not to buy coverage, the bill was re-scored by the CBO and it is going to cost twice as much as first scored thereby sending the country into bankruptcy, will kill jobs as employers lay off people to get under the 50 employee requirement. Many employers plan to drop coverage altogether for their employees due to the cost and pay a fine if they have to. Tell me Comrade, how is this improving Healthcare in this country? The Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable.
How far have we strayed?
During the drafting of the constitution there appeared two sides, the “Federalists” and those that thought the Articles of Confederation only needed to be adjusted. Those on the “Articles” side favored a weak central governement and strong state governements. The “Federalists” wanted a stronger federal government. Of course the “Federalists” won and we have our current constitution.
My point? This was as far as anyone wanted the federal governement to go.
There was no socialist side like we have today.
You are right. We have a country of center right who are being governed by a minority of far left zealots. In November, we need to retire these and their followers and get back to Conservative values that our founders envisioned. The Federal Government is far too intrusive in our lives and needs to be scaled way back and cut in half or we won’t survive as a country or we will be Greece or Venezuela in the next few years.
Bravo again!
Please explain in great detail with links how we have Socialism.
ComradeAnon,
Please explain in great detail with links how government taking income from from targeted individuals and distributing it to other targeted individuals isn’t Socialism.
This is about ‘Rule of Law’. If the court doesn’t not strike the mandate, they will be activists and it will be unconstitutional. They are in effect ‘nullifying’ over 200 years of law and saying the government is all powerful and can do anything it wants, without limit. Is this what anyone wants? It will also be the signal for all the crazies and loons to come out of the woodwork. Because they will be justified, as we will no longer be a government ‘Of The People’ under ‘Rule of Law’.
What we need is a true healthcare reform law, with billing, coverage, and rewards for participation, without a mandate. Everyone can afford healthcare – but – the government has not properly set the stage with choice/reform. We need to be able to purchase coverage across state lines, from exchanges, in pieces, and DIRECTLY from healthcare providers. WHY do we need insurance getting between a clinic and us? Anybody with a job, even on minimum wage could afford direct coverage from a clinic for $50/month, if only we were allowed to purchase it.
You are right Architect. A pool could have been set up in every state to insure the uninsured at a fraction of the cost. Instead, we are being subjected to a one size fits all mandated monstrocity which is sure to bankrupt the country as well as give the Federal Government control over our lives. The Progressives have been working toward this control for 100 years. If the Supremes or the new Republican President doesn’t undo this, the country will be doomed to be like Cuba or Venezuela in a few short years.