Obamacare, the mandate, the Commerce clause and the single-payer option
I agree with Eugene Robinson’s column. If Obamacare is ruled unconstitutional the only real alternative is a single-payer system. That is clearly constitutional (see Medicare).
But I hope the argument which was made at the end of the 2nd day of Supreme Court deliberations, that health insurance is inseparable from health care and everybody does use health care, is sufficient to convince the course that the insurance mandate falls well within the Commerce clause. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/supreme-court-could-open-door-for-sing… doug
Doug: The President always knew that the mandate was the Achilles Heel of his program. That’s why it doesn’t kick in until 2013. He knew that all those middle class college kids who supported him would not enjoy being forced to pay 10 percent of their income for health insurance and they would turn on him. Now he’s in real trouble because the mandate has hit the fan a year early. Can’t see a single payer system any time soon. Even if Obama manages to win because of the weak Republican field, he faces a Republican House and likely a more Republican Senate.
Constitutional lawyers all seem(ed) to think the mandate was a no-brainer, and would pass the Supreme Court. Well, it’s all reading tea leaves at this point. As has been pointed out, there have been many decisions in the past where the government got severely grilled yet in the end the court upheld the law, deciding in favor of judicial restraint.doug
I agree