Randy’s Ramblings: There’s a lot to like about the Affordable Care Act
March 23, 2012 at 1:47 am in Hudson Star-Observer
Opinion
The Republican Party seems to have hitched its wagon to the idea that undoing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be a political winner in the 2012 elections. But I wonder how Americans would feel about having the benefits of Obamacare, as it is commonly called, pulled away from them if the GOP does regain the White House and total control of Congress. Continue Reading
Obamacare must be overturned. It’s clearly unconstitutional and a furthering of the tyrannical overreach of this government and especially the Liar In Chief currently occupying the Oval Office.
Personal freedoms are at total risk here – and if allowed to stand we WILL become a third-world country with our existence literally allowed only by this benevolent gov’t's approval..
Not here. Not in the USA. Not now. NOT EVER..
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Randy’s Ramblings; that title fits most of this article and not much else needs to be said but here’s a couple thoughts. I’m not sure if Randy or his liberal friends understand this but “EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY”, if you go in for a flu shot it should cost money. Since giving free healthcare away is such a good idea, how about free cars for everyone? I mean people need it to get to a job right? Well then that should be a right too. If there is anything in this world we should be willing to pay for it should be your own heathcare. It only benefits you, why wouldn’t you want to pay for it? Now I agree that it sucks to pay for when you get the bill but I’m pretty sure I can cut out eating out or other non necessities to make sure I am healthy. There are some good components of the law such as eliminating pre existing conditions (as long as you have had insurance)
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but just because there are a couple good parts doesn’t mean this is a good bill. This bill will increase our deficit by another 1.3 trillion in the next decade. It will grow exponentially after that. Only 23 percent of business plan to offer private insurance to their employees if ObamaCare isn’t rescinded. This number was over 60% before the law went into effect. We have the greatest healthcare in the world, do we really want the govt screwing it up? If 16 trillion in debt is any sign of their leadership I doubt it.
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Randy, as a member of the HSO staff, why did you allow Rev.Scott Erlenborn to make racist comments in the “Pastoral Reflections” column this week? The column this week makes only a minor religious connection, and should have been put on the LTTE page.
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Since Bush Sr. wasn’t president in 1993 it doesn’t make much difference what his opinion was.
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i sure am enjoying my 2500 pre tax medical (was 5000) and my no over the counter drugs on my benny card without a “prescription”…
that and how my isurance has gotten worse while costing more since this was concieved.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Why is it so hard to admit that part of an insurance premium is the cost of those uninsured that use emergency rooms and hospitals? The Affordable Health Care Act does not force everyone to have insurance but there will be a penalty if you do not have it. The penalty should signifcantly reduce the number of uninsured Americans. I see nothing wrong with everyone and I mean everyone havingn health insurance so I do not pay for their medical expenses in my premiums.
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The problem, John, is that it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to force you to buy ANYTHING.
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I think everyone should pay for their own food if they are able. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen either
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Synopsis and explanation of the SCOTUS oral arguments on Obamacare, written by Ann Althouse, US Constitution law Prof, UW-Madison, on her blog:
“…March 27, 2012
10 highlights of today’s Obamacare oral argument.
1. Justice Alito asks Solicitor General Verrilli if he could state “as succinctly as possible” a “limiting principle” on the Commerce Clause doctrine that says “Congress can force people to purchase a product where the failure to purchase the product has a substantial effect on interstate commerce.” Transcript (PDF) at 43. Verrilli proceeds to give a 200+ word answer, which I will try to compress into something actually succinct. Actually, I can’t, because he doesn’t articulate limits, he only makes an assertion about what Congress can do. Congress may force individuals to buy a product “if it is necessary to counteract risks attributable” to “a comprehensive scheme it has the authority to enact,” and
Congress can regulate the method of payment by imposing an insurance requirement in advance of the time [when] the service is consumed when the class to which that requirement applies either is or virtually most certain to be in that market when the timing of one’s entry into that market and what you will need when you enter that market is uncertain and when — when you will get the care in that market, whether you can afford to pay for it or not and shift costs to other market participants.
Okay. Not succinct at all. And not responsive either. Can the SG state limiting principle? Obviously not.
2. Michael A. Carvin (representing the NFIB) argued that Congress didn’t restrict its scheme to the people who actually affect commerce by consuming health care services and failing to pay for it. The regulated category, the uninsured, includes plenty of people who do pay their bills and who are not part of the problem. They are simply being swept in to collect the money to cover the costs of health care. …
5. Paul Clement, representing the states, argues that the “solution” Congress came up with goes way beyond the problem the SG identifies (which is that uninsured people will consume services that they won’t pay for).
If all we were concerned about is the cost sharing that took place because of uncompensated care in emergency rooms, presumably we’d have before us a statute that only addressed emergency care and catastrophic insurance coverage. But it covers everything, soup to nuts, and all sorts of other things.
Transcript at 74-75. Soup to nuts! Just slop that into my bucket of meat. You see the point though: There’s an argument that it’s sensible to characterize the uninsured as already in the market because of the costs that they represent and that they are now shifting onto the people who do pay for healthcare, but they’re forced to buy insurance that covers much more than they are really at risk to consume. They’re being swept in and exploited to get more money to spread around. …”
I don’t understand a lot of the finer points the Prof brings up and her knowledgable commenters understand, but I have a greater understanding than I would get through the mainstream media. The Professor has/is currently addressing each days transcript of the oral arguments.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/03/10-highlights-of-todays-obamacare-oral.html
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Ah John, there has never been a case where the government has forced you into a contract. That’s what a penalty for not buying health insurance does in this case.
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I can think of one case.
The military draft we’ve had for more than one war. If being drafted and being forced under penalty of law into military service isn’t ‘forcing a contract’, what is?
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That power is granted through the Constitution’s power to create standing armies. NOT under the commerce clause. Try again.
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sure john, get EVERYONE to PAY into this system and it can work.
Soon enough, obamas friends (ahem, unions) will somehow be exempt from paying, along with 1/2 of the country that fall under sone “hardship”. Once this happens, they will say “its ok, just get on this-or that program and you wont have to pay” of course, all of the “poor” will jump on the freebie healthcare bandwagon (again) and the rest of us will foot the bill. Anyone who sees this and opposes it will be labeled “racist” or “hurting the children”. We will watch as out premiums continue to skyrocket, befifits will drop for us, and Obama will have just bought a new generation of voters- with our money. other than pre-existing clause, i see NO benifits of this obamacare.
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Obamacare is the same kind of crap that we escaped way back in the 1700′s. Remember the whole revolution thing…
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“The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates and regulates” – Tacitus
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Since I have employer paid health insurance I hope Obamacare is repealed, but I don’t want to hear any whining when healthcare premiums double in eight years like they did under Bush Jr.
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