“HHS has spent the past nine months issuing guidance and regulations at a furious pace in an attempt to fill the holes and correct some of the errors in the healthcare law. But that activity does not account for the numerous special circumstances facing millions of people with all sorts of different insurance arrangements that are unknown or poorly understood by Washington regulators. The waivers help, but they are not permanent and only delay the inevitable.”
Details“The federal government claims that forcing people to purchase health insurance regulates economic activity because everyone eventually uses health care in some form. But as Judge Hudson points out, ‘the same reasoning could apply to transportation, housing, or nutritional decisions. This broad definition of the economic activity subject to congressional regulation lacks logical limitation.’ The same reasoning would give Congress the power to force everyone to purchase a car because everyone eventually uses some form of ‘transportation.'”
Details“The days of calling the constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act ‘frivolous’ and ‘political’ are now officially over. Judge Hudson’s ruling that the individual insurance mandate is unconstitutional is a milestone in the legal process of deciding whether Congress has the power to command every person in the United States to enter into an economic relationship with a private company.”
Details“Today is a good day for liberty. By striking down the unprecedented requirement that Americans buy health insurance — the ‘individual mandate’ — Judge Henry Hudson vindicated the idea that ours is a government of delegated and enumerated, and thus limited, powers.”
Details“The decision on the individual mandate handed down today by U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in the Eastern District of Virginia makes it clear that Obamacare is on extremely shaky legal ground. That’s fitting, because it’s been on shaky political ground for well over a year now. Today’s decision — possibly joined by others in the weeks ahead — is going to strengthen the already strong perception that this law was ill-advised from the get-go and needs to be repealed to make way for a more sensible, consensus-driven program.”
Details“This is in one sense a debate between different ways of thinking about economics—command-and-control economics vs. market economics. But as Holder and Sebelius demonstrate today, it is also a debate between different ways of understanding American society, and the American Constitution. Their argument makes it awfully clear why it is so important to win that debate and repeal Obamacare.”
Details“After receiving several inquiries about the mandate’s cost in the wake of Monday’s court decision in Virginia, the office of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Tuesday sent around the Congressional Budget Office’s June estimate for repealing the mandate. The bottom line, according to CBO: Doing so would bring in $202 billion from its 2014 start date to 2019.”
DetailsAn interview with ObamaCare Watch’s Project Director Jim Capretta in which he discusses the ruling by a federal judge finding ObamaCare’s individual mandate unconstitutional.
Details“Yesterday, within hours of the release of this judicial ruling, Rasmussen released a new poll showing that Americans support the repeal of Obamacare by the colossal margin of 60 to 34 percent. Independents favor Obamacare’s repeal by a margin of more than 2 to 1, 62 to 28 percent. The combination of this polling and yesterday’s ruling shows that, whether the political establishment wants to believe it or not, the political and legal challenges to Obamacare are not remotely frivolous. Rather, they are deadly serious – and they are gaining steam.”
DetailsThe misaligned economic incentive structure in the health sector create waste and worsen care. ObamaCare does not fix this problem. “The legislation accordingly focuses
on broadening access by means of insurance reform and not on
changing the incentives driving health care treatment and overall spending. Indeed, on numerous occasions, Congress and
the administration pulled their punches in addressing those
problems — usually by trading stricter reforms in those areas
for coverage provisions that they valued more.”