Memo to Supremes: ObamaCare Mandate Won't Fix Anything in Health Care

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 3/29,2012 | John Merline

[IBD editorial writer]

he Obama administration told the Supreme Court this week that the Affordable Care Act's mandate that everyone buy insurance is vital to providing universal coverage and lower insurance costs. But ObamaCare won't solve either problem, as government reports show.

Despite the mandate, there will still be 27 million uninsured a decade from now, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The promised uninsured rate — 10% in 2022 — isn't much better than in 1980, when it was 12%.

[drypowder]

Isn't it obvious by now that obozo care is all about government control? IT was never meant to help anybody, that's why the congress exempted themselves and their staffs for life and obozo has issued waivers to his union and his business owning supporters. It has everything to do with Agenda 21.

[Baynative]

I've been listening to a lot of the intelligent arguments made by Paul Clement. It is interesting to hear how the Supremes conduct business. While some like, Roberts, Scalia and even Kennedy asked probing questions, liberals Ginsberg, Kagan and Sotomayer were more prone to arguing.

I am surprised that Kagan who argued for the bill as solicitor general is participating in the decision although it is obvious that she has a personal stake in trying to see it upheld.

What I find lacking is that no one touched on the most obvious political argument against the bill which is that the biggest supporters during the congressional process; democrat states, large corporations such as GE and REI and unions like UAW and SEIU

Elana Kagan proved herself a socialist fool when she argued against coercion by saying "It's just a boatload of federal money to take and spend on poor people's healthcare, it doesn't sound very coercive to me." Academic socialists just can't get it through their thick heads that it isn't the government's money.

[Baynative]

[FroggyTheGremlim]

A rebuttal to the argument posted by the Left,that , "the mandate is justified because everyone must contribute to the pool to pay for those who can't afford to"

can be shot down by this:

Democrats have exempted themselves from the whole damn thing!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Despite this, if it becomes clear in their internal debates that the vote is 5-4 to kill this, I predict Kagan will flip and vote with the majority. This will be followed by an attack on all of us for ever deigning to question her integrity.

The purpose will be to immunize her from this charge on all future cases. If it is clear they are gonna lose Obamacare anyway, keep an eye out for this tactical maneuver.

[C210N]

There are tons of things that together WILL fix health care. One of them is allowing hospital ERs to go after the takers that “use” and abuse ER services. They should be able to seek court redress, garnish wages, and so on just as if they take a car loan to buy an auto and refuse to make payments. We don’t need to go the route of a health-care repo man to take back a liver or heart not paid for... but what we have now is ridiculous.

[Buckeye McFrog]

One of them is allowing hospital ERs to go after the takers that “use” and abuse ER services

How you gonna do that when so many of those are illegals?
Even the SC arguments Tuesday revealed that under Obamacare this situation would remain pretty much unchanged.

Not to mention empty-headed state laws. When I lived in Michigan it was illegal for a health care provider to turn you over to collections or report to the credit bureaus. So people hardly ever repaid their hospital bills (or took many many years to do so)

[Future Snake Eater]

Memo to Supremes: ObamaCare Mandate Won't Fix Anything in Health Care

I can't imagine how that's relevant to the case. The SCOTUS isn't supposed to judge laws based on how effective they think it'll be; they're supposed to determine constitutionality.

[Baynative]

I would like to think that she might see the light and go with the majority. But, she appears to be a partisan shallow thinker.

Back in the Clinton years Jamie Gorelick whored herself out for Bubba. I think she was promised a SC chair for obstructing justice on the Whitewater and Paula Jones investigations and subsequently, the impeachment hearings. When a SC chair didn't come open she was rewarded with a lawyering job at Fannie Mae where she collected $26 MILLION in five years and helped set up the sub prime loans scam.

Maybe since Kagan is already on the SC she will be susceptible to reason. (and maybe pigs will fly, too)