HispanicVista Columnists
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HispanicVista Columnists |
| Constitutional Considerations |
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.comConstitutional Considerations
At this writing, in mid January, we assume that the Obama health care bill (Obamacare)
will be resolved between the House and Senate bills. But that is only an
assumption. The closer that this gets to a showdown, the more doubtful appears
the outcome.
But one thing that is getting more attention of late is the strong probability
of serious constitutional challenges to this albatross.
· Sen. Nelson's (D Nebraska) payback for his vote that exempts Nebraska, and
only Nebraska form having to share the increased state Medicare costs under
Obamacare. Check out Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution: "provide for the
general welfare . . . but that all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be
uniform throughout the
· Mandating health insurance coverage is on questionable grounds also. Two
Supreme Court decisions raise red flags. The Court said, in striking down two
laws that the Constitution forbids the federal government from commandeering any
branch of state government to administer a federal program. Even trying to
stretch the 10th amendment interstate commerce clause fails here. This is not a
regulation to control interstate commerce, but a mandate to purchase. As one
columnist wrote, would it be legal to mandate that everyone eat broccoli because
it is good for you? And comparing this to requiring (at the state level) of
purchasing auto liability insurance is a different matter. First, these are at
state level. Second, driving an auto is a choice, not a requirement.
· Requiring the elimination of preexisting conditions in health insurance. There
is a slippery slope here. As Thomas Sowell pointed out in his column, if this
was a general requirement, we could equate this to fire insurance. Why but
insurance at all. Simply wait until your house burns down and then purchase the
insurance. Coverage cannot be denied simply because the burned down house is a
preexisting condition. And the same logic would apply to auto insurance. But the
escape valve on this is that the insurance companies would be able to adjust
their rates to actuary accounting. Otherwise, why would so many insurance
companies be on board for this? Now this is not to say that badly needed reforms
are not needed on this issue. But this shotgun approach is not the way to do it.
I am afraid that I might be struck down by a lightning bolt for what I am about
to say, but Howard Dean was right. I agree with him. Obamacare is such a mess
that it would be better to scrap the whole thing and do it better.
Now, let's take a peek at Cap and Tax. One of the things in this program is the
enforcement and administration of the cap and trade provisions that would, in
effect, regulate anything that would produce carbon dioxide, worldwide. This
program would be under the auspices of UN administration. In effect, the UN
would be empowered to collect fees and enforce with fines, directly in the
And, for that matter, the system is hopelessly corrupt as it stands. Some
countries, notably