“It doesn’t let us buy across state lines.”
That has nothing to do with Obamacare.
It is because states regulate insurance (see 10th amendment)
So just as your Ohio or New York auto insurance policy must comply with OH or NY state rules for auto insurance so must your medical insurance policy comply with OH or NY medical insurance rules.
That was also back in the day when insurance risk pools were made up of people in your state; supposedly people who drove the same roads as you, whose homes were of relatively the same value as yours, who lived and worked and shopped and ate in the same environments are you, etc.
I wonder what would happen if someone in a high-crime city like Chicago wants to buy life insurance from Idaho, where the risk pools are a bit less risky because the Idahoans aren't shooting at each other every weekend?
-PJ
That’s a constitutional stand IF you never drive out of state. Most car owners do drive in more than one state, but only have license, insurance, plates, title records, etc. from just one. If you live in New York, insure a car there and then drive it to New Jersey to have coverage you are engaging in interstate commerce. Democrats have so perverted the Commerce Clause that conservatives demean it, but it has a legit purpose in cases just like this. Congress DOES have a say over auto insurance if you will be driving in multiple states. The chaos from differing state rules under the Articles of Confederation played a major part in why we now have the Constitution. That’s not the same as saying the states have no role to play regarding insurance, auto or health, but the feds have a role to ensure they play together well.
True, but only in part. The feds have the constitutional authority to establish a national insurance market via the authority to regulate inter-state commerce.