A judge just ruled the health insurance mandate in ObamaCare is unconstitutional. Just came over newswire. No link yet.
So much for our putz constitutional law professor president. Wonder how the rest of the wanks he hired from Harvard are doing.
I always assumed that the supreme court would rule it unconstitutional. After all, they always do what Bush and Bhoener tell them to.
At least one court ruled correctly. I don't see how the Supreme Court can rule that the government can force you to buy anything. That's not regulating interstate commerce. It will probably be another year before it gets there.
On it's face, this law does appear to be unconstitutional but the government forces people to do things all the time. If the Supreme Court rules against the Government then the Government will turn around and collect more taxes from you and force you into a medical plan that way. The most laughable part about this bill is when someone gets laid off and they are supposed to come up with the $18,000 per year to pay their Cobra or some other insurance. Unemployment Bennies just don't cover that. How much will the government subsidize for these folks? Maybe $5k? Well, that helps but who pays the other $13,000? It's easier to pay the $750 and go to a county hospital if one is available in your area. I've never been to a county hospital though. Hopefully I'll never have to. Heard some scary stories....
But, the Democrats have lost control of the House in the last election. So, that won't happen. Most likely, ObamaCare will fall apart if the Supreme Court rules against the mandate. Any change in the law to force a mandate another way won't get through the House and they are going to block funding anyway. So, when Obama is out at the end of 2012 the ObamaCare law will be replealed and replaced with something reasonable.
Essentially, the Court ruled as follows: 1. That the imposition of an individual mandate to purchase private insurance went beyond Congress' historic Commerce Clause power, which is not extended by the existence of the Necessary and Proper Clause 2. That the mandate could not be reframed as a "tax," as it was not designed to raise revenue but rather to penalize behavior. 3. That the individual mandate was severable from the remainder of the law, and therefore the entirety of HCR won't be struck down. 4. Moreover, that there was no compelling reason to block other enforcement of HCR in the interim, as the case makes
"reasonable" you are assuming that a republican or mixed congress is capable of doing anything reasonable. eg. passing a billextending unemployment for another year is not reasonable. they will become unhire-able and have no incentive to look for work except off the books. reasonableness is not a criteria for the passage of legislation.
It really doesn't matter what the Supreme Court does or doesn't do, as the new House Republican majority has vowed to never fund Obamacare. Since Obamacare cannot add to the deficit, and must receive it's funding from both houses of congress to be implemented, it's as good as dead!!!! Thank God for that!!!!