The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear the case concerning the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) commonly known to teabaggers and Americans alike as "ObamaCare." It will be interesting to see what this ideologically divided court does with the rulings. The court has instructed the parties to prepare briefs surrounding three main questions:
1. Is the requirement to purchase insurance (individual mandate) allowable under the interstate commerce clause?
2. Did the federal government overstep its bounds by only making Medicaid funds available upon states' acceptance of the new laws and regulations in the ACA?
3. If only the individual mandate is struck down (which is a legal option), does the healthcare law become de facto null and void as it is the primary funding mechanism for getting rid of pre-existing conditions, recission and young adult regulations?
Overall, I feel like the ACA will be held as constitutional. Most appellate courts have held it to be so, including the D.C. Court of Appeals. Here's Reagan's Solicitor General, Charles Fried explaining while, although in a democracy we may disagree on this politically, this law is surely constitutional.
I'm going to do the layman's argument.
Q. Can a government force you to buy something through regulation?
A. Yes, most state governments force people who have cars to purchase car insurance, so that when people get in accidents the costs to both health and property are borne by the people and not the state.
Q. A-ha! I have two points. One that's state governments have more lee-way to impose regulations; and two, I can opt out of the car insurance mandate by not having a car!
A. Here's the crux of why the mandate matters and is legal. Everyone has a body. NO ONE has the ability to opt out of the healthcare market. And if people promised never to move outside of their state, then maybe we could have health insurance administered on a purely state level, but the market of American people move frequently between states and thus the costs and risks of accidents, disease, and age are spread across the nation so it's not outside the bounds of Congress to consider national solutions to national problems. You may disagree with the solution, but that does not make it unconstitutional.
Hello world!
1 year ago