"What Congress cannot do under the Commerce Clause is mandate that individuals enter into contracts with private insurance companies for the purchase of an expensive product from the time they are born until the time they die."
Although I am generally sympathetic to the idea of attempting to reform the health care system, I have long believed that the individual mandate requiring a citizen to purchase a private health insurance policy on penalty of incurring fines was in excess of Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause. This case will probably now be heard by the Court of Appeals en banc, or the entire court, and then will no doubt go to the Supreme Court for a final resolution. I understand the motivation for this provision in the law. If all the young and able bodied people pass on buying health insurance, the pool will likely be unbalanced and insuring the limited number of people who voluntarily choose to buy health insurance will be unprofitable and unfeasible for insurance companies. However, I believe that this provision of the law does in fact overstep Congressional authority under the Constitution based on the power of Congress to regulate commerce between the states. We have a system, at least in theory, of limited powers for the federal government. Sustaining this exercise of Congressional power would essentially render the concept of limited federal power under the Commerce Clause meaningless. I think we will ultimately have to go back to the drawing board to come up with a scheme that will provide for additional economies and efficiency in the health care system without radically altering the traditional relationships between the federal government, state government, and individual citizens.
Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44121956/ns/politics-white_house/
Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44121956/ns/politics-white_house/
I've always thought that the mandatory insurance purchase was a bridge too far and would be found unconstitutional sooner or later. It appears that the process has begun. It pains me to remember how hard this plan was pushed and how many loyal Democratic legislators were thrown under the bus so that this legislation could pass. In my view, this is what led to the emergence of the Tea Party movement, which begat the electoral changes of 2010, and now leaves us with the debt crisis that will not go away. We live in interesting times, I guess.
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