It's a silly question really

Post #316,249 by jay 10/27/09 9:03:56 AM Reply	It's a silly question really It's a silly question really, nothing more then repeating a right wing talking point. Even if you ignore the over used commerce clause, this one is covered. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; National health care obviously falls into the "general Welfare of the United States". It would be amusing to see somebody try to sue on that point though, because the government would probably have to admit that a mandate to buy insurance was a form of tax in court. Jay
Post #316,254 by boxley 10/27/09 9:52:14 AM Reply	Re: It's a silly question really gnereal welfare does not extend to mandatory health coverage. Having a rule that requires hospitals to treat and stabalize an emergency is covered, forcing people who may not be sick to pay for a doctor they may not need is not.
Post #316,264 by jay 10/27/09 10:36:59 AM Reply	Says you You might think that, but I'm pretty sure that the court will take a far more expansive view of what that means. If Congress decides that it is in the general welfare interest of the country that everybody have medical coverage, the court is unlikely to overturn Congress. Look at how the commerce clause has been abused over the years. That would be true even if there wasn't a good argument for some form of universal medical coverage. Jay
Post #316,269 by mhuber 10/27/09 10:49:46 AM Reply	Commerce clause and H1N1 Or any other microbe that doesn't respect State lines. If school drug-free zones are interstate commerce, germs certainly are.
Post #316,317 by Mycroft_Holmes_Iv 10/27/09 10:29:08 PM Reply	Not that I'm disagreeing with you... but I personally hate the idea of being forced to buy insurance. It's a bogus ok to the insurance companies for giving up the "right" to recind health insurance. 3 or 4 jobs this year and each insurance company wants PROOF that we've been covered by insurance (once we hit our deductable). I notice, however, that they immediately know when my insurance situation has changed.
Post #316,326 by jay 10/28/09 8:54:10 AM Reply	That much I agree with Mandated insurance purchase for everybody is a terrible way to provide universal coverage. It may be the best option open the US right now because of the ideological opposition to any large government program, political opposition from Republicans and the massive amount of lobbying money being thrown against it. But it isn't a good one in any sense of the word. The insurance field is inherently not a good market. It's very difficult for the insured to get good information comparing their insurance to other insurance and people don't tend to care enough until they need their insurance and then then it's too late to shop for the best price/benefit ratio. The one in the US is even worse because it's normally purchased through your job not personally. That greatly cuts down on the competition in the market and keeps people from realizing just how much it actually costs them. The end result of that is that any market place solution is not really going to achieve the sort of cost containment desired. Jay

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