Supreme Courts Digs Into Health Care Mandate

March 28, 2012

A divided U.S. Supreme Court quizzed attorneys Tuesday about the most-controversial part of the 2010 federal health overhaul — a requirement that almost all Americans have health coverage in 2014. It’s a case that was first heard in Escambia County as Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola ruled against the mandate.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is widely viewed as a swing vote, asked questions that indicated skepticism about Obama administration arguments that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution allows the requirement.

“I understand that we must presume laws are constitutional, but, even so, when you are changing the relation of the individual to the government in this … unique way, do you not have a heavy burden of justification to show authorization under the Constitution?” Kennedy asked U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia hammered Verrilli about the limits of federal power, offering hypothetical questions about such things as requiring people to have burial insurance.

“You can get burial insurance. You can get health insurance,” Alito said, according to a transcript of the two-hour hearing. “Most people are going to need health care. Almost everybody. Everybody is going to be buried or cremated at some point. What’s the difference?”

But justices such as Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared to side with an administration argument that the Commerce Clause allows the coverage requirement because the costs of treating the uninsured get shifted to other people — ultimately leading to higher premiums for the people with insurance.

“Those (uninsured) people are in commerce,” Kagan said. “They are making decisions that are affecting the price that everybody pays for this service.”

The arguments about the so-called “individual mandate” came on the second day of the Supreme Court’s landmark hearings in a Florida-led challenge to the federal health overhaul, known commonly as the Affordable Care Act. The hearings will end Wednesday with arguments about the constitutionality of part of the act that would expand Medicaid.

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

8 Responses to “Supreme Courts Digs Into Health Care Mandate”

  1. David Huie Green on March 28th, 2012 4:56 pm

    CONSIDERING:
    “Selfishness harms society….tears it apart….

    And for proof we are told selfishness:

    “destroys the world economy“
    Yet the world economy isn’t destroyed yet.

    “….spills millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico”
    There was a blowout but did selfishness make people desire the loss of life, loss of income, loss of quality of life? It was caused by many things such as laziness on the part of government regulators, diversion of money going to the federal government to contain just such spills, government regulations which kept away much equipment capable of dealing with the disaster for a time.

    “…..tears a hole in the ozone”
    There IS a thinning of the ozone layer over the South Pole during the winter, when the ultraviolet which replenishes the ozone is absent, but it wasn’t greed which drove people to use CFCs. It was the fact that they were safer than other coolants and safer propellants in women’s hair sprays.

    “…creates a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas“
    The garbage patch is caused by people throwing away their trash, expecting the earth to break it down or somebody else to do it for them. It isn’t caused by people thinking, “Ha ha, I’ll get rich if I throw this piece of plastic overboard!”

    “…melts the North Polar ice cap“
    And yet the ice cap hasn’t melted. Maybe it will and if anthropogenic carbon dioxide buildup causes it, it will be in part because people decided they preferred fossil fuels over nuclear power. It will be in part because some doubted the power of gas to hold in thermal energy, and in part because a possible danger in the future seemed better than freezing in the dark tonight.

    David for blaming greedy (fill in the blank)

  2. PSU1Earl on March 28th, 2012 1:37 pm

    Jane, what you say is true but there should be a line where greed stops and being human begins. It would be nice if health, and untimately life & death would be less close to that line.

  3. PSU1Earl on March 28th, 2012 1:35 pm

    Democrats for socialism to support the people. (taxes pay for public health and welfare with social programs and routing tax dollars to your favorite minority)
    Repuclicans for socialism to support the corporations (taxes pay for healthy corporate earnings with tax breaks and routing tax dollars to your favorite industry)

  4. Barack Reagan on March 28th, 2012 9:33 am

    amen dave!

  5. Devastating Dave on March 28th, 2012 9:12 am

    Wake up my fellow Americans! Time to go third party and never look back. We don’t need Republicans and we don’t need Democrats!

  6. Jane on March 28th, 2012 7:20 am

    Greed drives our economy. It is not a Republican or Democratic idea. It is what makes you want the new car, TV, computer, ipad, etc. Without it there would be no innovation, no reason to want anything other than the basic neccessities. Everyone is greedy in some form or another. You see something new and you want it. That drives the economy. This article is not about Republicans or Democrats. It is about what is constitutional in our government and what our government can or can not force the people to do/buy. If it can force you to buy health insurance, can it also force you to buy certain foods because some are not healthy? Can it force you to drive a certain type of car because some are not fuel efficient enough? Can you be forced to buy a house instead of renting because this is good for the economy, therefore good for other people? Think about our Constitution and what it says…not whether this is a Republican or Democratic idea!

  7. Kathy on March 28th, 2012 7:07 am

    At age 65 you are forced into the Medicare program, Bush pushed and got the unpaid for program called part D, you are forced into it if you are on Medicare, and pay a fine for every year you do not purchase it. Same difference with this plan. republicans don’t care they just don’t like a democratic process.

  8. Barack Reagan on March 28th, 2012 6:27 am

    “The Justice Department has countered that since every American will need medical care at some point in their lives, individuals do not “choose” to participate in the health care market. Federal officials cite 2008 figures of $43 billion in uncompensated costs from the millions of uninsured people who receive health services — costs that are shifted first to insurance companies and then passed on to consumers.”

    For Republicans America is a platform for individual fulfillment. But here’s the catch: the Individual is defined in the narrowest possible terms. Any notion of the “The Public Good” is seen as “Socialism” (socialism being anything the government does for the non-wealthy). The Free Market will fix New Orleans levees. The Free Market will effectively control the amount of derivative based risk Wall Street will take. The Free Market will get us off imported oil(rather than spending decades making terrorists stronger). The Free Market will keep our rivers clean. The Free Market will make healthcare more efficient. The Free Market won’t bribe Washington in order to increase it’s profit margin. We don’t need to worry about “The Public Good”, individual selfishness driven by short term profit is a utopian reflex.

    But the world doesn’t work that way. Selfishness harms society….tears it apart….destroys the world economy….spills millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico…..tears a hole in the ozone…creates a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas…melts the North Polar ice cap…..creates massive deficits by giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy….

    But the Republicans celebrate this selfishness. It is their core value. For them greed is good.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News