Obamacare Ruled Unconstitutional by Appeals Court

[Dusty]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-rules-against-obama-healthcare-law-171829777.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An appeals court ruled Friday that President Barack Obama's healthcare law requiring Americans to buy healthcare insurance or face a penalty was unconstitutional, a blow to the White House.

The Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, found that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but also ruled that the rest of the wide-ranging law could remain in effect.

The legality of the so-called individual mandate, a cornerstone of the 2010 healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. The Obama administration has defended the provision as constitutional.

The case stems from a challenge by 26 U.S. states which had argued the individual mandate, set to go into effect in 2014, was unconstitutional because Congress could not force Americans to buy health insurance or face the prospect of a penalty.

"This economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority: the ability to compel Americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they have elected not to buy, and to make them re-purchase that insurance product every month for their entire lives," a divided three-judge panel said.

Snip

[VVVV]

The problem I see with people not having health care insurance is that the taxpayers and those with coverage wind up paying the non-insured's medical bills.

[Justinmd]

That is a good point. However, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. Say someone refuses to buy insurance, then they get fined. Are they going to pay the fine? No. Then maybe they go to jail. Then your tax dollars pay for them anyway.

If you don't want to pay for someone else's medical bills, an alternative from what I understand is to go to a pay for service type of facility. The kind that doesn't take any non-insured, non-paying customers. I'm not greatly familiar with these since I haven't used healthcare in quite some time, but I understand they are out there.

People who are pro social medicine often point out to the car insurance model as an example of why mandating insurance for health is ok. This is a flawed analogy since it is insurance against the liability incurred by damaging another or their property that is required.

Justin

[cat in the hat]

The problem I see with people not having health care insurance is that the taxpayers and those with coverage wind up paying the non-insured's medical bills.

the problem with that argument is that any one too poor to afford health insurance still gets a waiver.
if we stopped letting people go the emergency room every time they get a sniffle, that would be a start.
maybe start sending them a bill for their visit. that might slow them down before going in cause little Johnny scrapped his knee.

[TrapLine]

People who are pro social medicine often point out to the car insurance model as an example of why mandating insurance for health is ok. This is a flawed analogy since it is insurance against the liability incurred by damaging another or their property that is required.

Justin

I hear the same argument relating to auto insurance, often. Yet, one can simply opt out of auto insurance by choosing not to drive. The opt out of health insurance seems to be relocation to a pine box or crazy Nancy's district, both bad choices as far as I can tell. I could be wrong.