Court Rules Individual Mandate Constitutional, but Questions Remain
By Amelia Pang
Epoch Times Staff
NEW YORK—A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit deemed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 constitutional on June 29.
The Supreme Court is widely expected to take up one of three cases pending in the courts challenging the government’s right to require all Americans to purchase health insurance, under the newly enacted health care reform law.
Stakeholders remain divided over the new law, with some believing the individual mandate is unwarranted, while others argue that it is essential for important reforms.
Soon after the health care bill was introduced in 2009 by John Conyers (D-Mich.), thousands of protesters held rallies with slogans like “Kill the Bill.” In Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one of the biggest health care lawsuits, 26 state attorneys general opposed its constitutionality.
In 2010, Obama signed Affordable Care Act into law. Over 20 states filed lawsuits against it. Pro-life Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum objected to the bill on the basis that it would support abortion funding. He was the first to file a challenge to the law.
According to Politifact, the non partisan fact checking service from the St. Petersburg Times in Florida: “The Senate bill states very clearly that public funding through tax credits and government subsidies for elective abortion services offered in the exchange is prohibited. But more than that, the bill sets up a mechanism to ensure that abortion services offered in the exchange are paid entirely from patient premiums, premiums paid by people who have chosen a private plan that covers abortion.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, almost 50 million Americans don’t have health care. If those uninsured people have to buy insurance, almost 50 million individuals will have to experience extra costs when the individual mandate takes effect in 2014.
A major concern for this health care act is that business owners, especially, have to peel quite an amount of money from their pockets.
“If I’m the one who pays for most of the health care of my employees, it means the cost is either passed on to me, or paid for by increasing taxes. Both options add fear and uncertainty to our businesses,” said Neal Asbury, chief executive of The Legacy Companies, and host of talk radio show “Truth for America.”
On the other hand, many believe it is best to share insurance costs through the individual mandate, so that free riders, people who do not have insurance but who need expensive treatments, won’t pass their medical bills on to everyone else. If everyone gets health insurance, the individual costs won’t be as high. Hospitals and doctors are sometimes forced to eat the costs of treating uninsured people, and may charge more for services to cover such losses.
Changes such as eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions, preventing individuals from losing their coverage based upon their health status, and eliminating annual or lifetime caps on benefits, all depend on the individual mandate, which requires everyone to have insurance. A larger pool of insured people, including healthy people, offsets the costs of caring for people who are sicker.
“Congress had a rational basis to believe substantial effects on interstate commerce,” Judge Boyce F. Martin wrote. “In addition, Congress had a rational basis to believe that the provision was essential to its larger economic scheme reforming the interstate markets in health care and health insurance.”
By Amelia Pang
Epoch Times Staff
NEW YORK—A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit deemed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 constitutional on June 29.
The Supreme Court is widely expected to take up one of three cases pending in the courts challenging the government’s right to require all Americans to purchase health insurance, under the newly enacted health care reform law.
Stakeholders remain divided over the new law, with some believing the individual mandate is unwarranted, while others argue that it is essential for important reforms.
Soon after the health care bill was introduced in 2009 by John Conyers (D-Mich.), thousands of protesters held rallies with slogans like “Kill the Bill.” In Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one of the biggest health care lawsuits, 26 state attorneys general opposed its constitutionality.
In 2010, Obama signed Affordable Care Act into law. Over 20 states filed lawsuits against it. Pro-life Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum objected to the bill on the basis that it would support abortion funding. He was the first to file a challenge to the law.
According to Politifact, the non partisan fact checking service from the St. Petersburg Times in Florida: “The Senate bill states very clearly that public funding through tax credits and government subsidies for elective abortion services offered in the exchange is prohibited. But more than that, the bill sets up a mechanism to ensure that abortion services offered in the exchange are paid entirely from patient premiums, premiums paid by people who have chosen a private plan that covers abortion.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, almost 50 million Americans don’t have health care. If those uninsured people have to buy insurance, almost 50 million individuals will have to experience extra costs when the individual mandate takes effect in 2014.
A major concern for this health care act is that business owners, especially, have to peel quite an amount of money from their pockets.
“If I’m the one who pays for most of the health care of my employees, it means the cost is either passed on to me, or paid for by increasing taxes. Both options add fear and uncertainty to our businesses,” said Neal Asbury, chief executive of The Legacy Companies, and host of talk radio show “Truth for America.”
On the other hand, many believe it is best to share insurance costs through the individual mandate, so that free riders, people who do not have insurance but who need expensive treatments, won’t pass their medical bills on to everyone else. If everyone gets health insurance, the individual costs won’t be as high. Hospitals and doctors are sometimes forced to eat the costs of treating uninsured people, and may charge more for services to cover such losses.
Changes such as eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions, preventing individuals from losing their coverage based upon their health status, and eliminating annual or lifetime caps on benefits, all depend on the individual mandate, which requires everyone to have insurance. A larger pool of insured people, including healthy people, offsets the costs of caring for people who are sicker.
“Congress had a rational basis to believe substantial effects on interstate commerce,” Judge Boyce F. Martin wrote. “In addition, Congress had a rational basis to believe that the provision was essential to its larger economic scheme reforming the interstate markets in health care and health insurance.”
