Poll: Was Supreme Court Obamacare Ruling Right?
The highest court of the land upholds the Affordable Care Act. What do you think about that?
In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Thursday the controversial health care law trumpeted by President Barack Obama.
The Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, will impact many Americans, and the upcoming November election.
According to CNN, the Supreme Court decided that the individual mandate that requires people to have minimal and essential health insurance is valid as a tax, though it is not permitted under the Constitution's commerce clause.
In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said:
"People, for reasons of their own, often fail to do things that would be good for them or good for society. Those failures — joined with the similar failures of others — can readily have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. Under the government’s logic, that authorizes Congress to use its commerce power to compel citizens to act as the government would have them act."
Roberts was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Gingsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as upholding the law.
In the disenting opinion, Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas said:
"The values that should have determined our course today are caution, minimalism, and the understanding that the federal government is one of limited powers. But the court’s ruling undermines those values at every turn. In the name of restraint, it overreaches. In the name of constitutional avoidance, it creates new constitutional questions. In the name of cooperative federalism, it undermines state sovereignty."
So, what do you think? Did the Supreme Court get it right? Should Obamacare have been upheld? Let us know in the poll and the comment section below.
Fred Bott
12:29 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
It's a sad shame that the law of the land is decided 5 to 4 and we all have to live with it. Liberal Supreme court judges who have NO idea of normal life since they are appointed for life.
THIS SYSTEM SHOULD BE CHANGED. No one should have a secure LIFE long job without censure or any public input or control.
I do not believe this decision is just and correct.
OBAMMA MUST GO !
Rhonda
2:34 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I agree with ya Fred!
Steve Power
11:09 am on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Justice Roberts is hardly a liberal. There was ZERO chance that this bunch of corporate-owned industry hacks was going to strike down the individual mandate which lines the pockets of their biggest constituents, the insurance companies. How right wing is the individual mandate? Look at its origins: The individual mandate was first proposed by the ultra-right Heritage Foundation and first introduced by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch (who now "oppose" it for purely political reasons).
Anita S Wolfe
11:15 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
I agree with you Fred Bott, he and his ObamaCare needs to go!!
David Brown
3:33 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I am thrilled with the decision for a number of reasons. I'm ecstatic that millions of Americans (like my daughter) who are uninsured will now have access to healthcare. I'm happy that Americans (like my wife) will no longer have access to healthcare denied because of a pre-existing condition. I'm happy that Americans will not lose their coverage when they get sick. I'm happy that the insurance industry will not be able to put a cap on Americans' healthcare.
Fred Bott
4:05 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
David Brown.
OH MY...how do I respond to such a closed mind. You surely must be a Democrat.
What ever happened to self-reliance ? How can you justify the government taxing you because you do not want to support the squandering of our nations moneys.
The deficit is SO huge now and with this Socialist program will even soar higher !
If you think this will keep the government from limiting healthcare, YOU ARE WRONG !
Anita S Wolfe
11:19 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
David Brown: Sir, you have really been misinformed about this ObamaCare, look at the other countries who have this type of Socialists Medicine, you won't be able to find a Doctor who will take this insurance, if your poor wife is real sick, she will be given a pill to simply put her to sleep. You will find that if the government don't approve a certain procedure, she won't get it, there will be waiting lists around the world, waiting on Dr.s procedures, that is if you can find one who will take it...Many countries warned us not to let this happen, because they know first hand, what this is all about.
DEBORAH MCDONALD
5:54 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Hi Fred,
This decision reinforces self-reliance. I want to pay for my own healthcare. Insurance companies have denied me because of a pre-existing condition (arthritis and osteoporosis, which most will get as they age). If I get sick, I will have to go to the emergenc room for treatment. That is exactly what Repubs say they don't want. So even though I want to buy insurance, I can't! Right now the insuance companies limit our healthcare by lifetime caps, dictating what tests they will or will not pay for, which prescriptions they wll pay for etc. This law will help many middle class people. So many have gone bankrupt because of medical expenses.
Cindy
7:16 pm on Friday, June 29, 2012
Help the middle class people? I don't know how you figure. We (the middle class) have just been forced to pay for the largest tax increase in the history of this nation. How does that help the middle class.
And what about people like my sister, who has been unemployed for over a year now, had to move back in with our mom, and has no money to buy anything at all much less health insurance. Is the government going to fine her? Good luck getting blood out of turnip!
Steve Power
10:54 am on Saturday, June 30, 2012
"We (the middle class) have just been forced to pay for the largest tax increase in the history of this nation." Are you kidding? Ever heard of income tax?
All the individual mandate does is force those who choose not to get medical insurance to pay their fair share rather than using emergency medical services that the rest of us end up paying for with higher taxes and/or through higher insurance premiums.
Steve Power
10:59 am on Saturday, June 30, 2012
As for your sister, why should the rest of us have to pay for her health care because she can't find a job? Has she thought about going back to school so that someone will employ her? I put myself through nine years of night school so that I would be employable, and even after I lost my job last year I found another one by pounding the pavement. I was hired by a company that wasn't even looking for a new employee. I cold callied them, talked my way into an interview, and convinced them to just give me a chance by reminding them that if I didn't make them money they could just fire me. I am now the highest producer at the firm. Even though my new employer does not offer medical insurance, I pay $1,200 per month for COBRA. I'd prefer getting more affordable medical insurance, but I can't because I have a preexisting condition. Even after the insurance companies are forced to provide insurance to me despite my preexisting condition, there is no provision that says they have to provide AFFORDABLE insurance. I expect that my premiums will go up even more once I become eligible in 2014. But I'll pay for it because I don't expect others to pay for my healthcare costs.
Anita S Wolfe
11:28 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
I agree, if I cant afford to pay for health insurance, how the hell am I gonna afford to pay a tax, this is just not right. Im gonna enjoy watching these very same people whine and cry, when they find out, most Drs. are not gonna except this insurance, so you will be loosing good Drs. Also, if you are older, or sick, you won't get anything but a pill to put you to sleep.If they don't think you need a certain test, you won't get it. There will be waiting lists for everything, WHY do you think other countries came here for Healthcare? Because their comunnist country woulnd't allow the needed health care. I say, Good luck as well, trying to get blood out of a turnip. Now this is just unconstitutional, and how they got around it, was to not fine people who didn't buy it, but to call it a tax...
Steve Power
11:03 am on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wake up and see what the problem really is with our health care system. The cost of medical care in the United States is unjustifiably high. Tthe United States currently ranks 27th in the world in quality of health care, but we currently rank 2nd in the world on the percentage of GDP we spend on health care. Obamacare does little to assist the vast majority of Americans, but it is better than what was in place before it. Our health care "system" is controlled by the insurance and health care industries and is designed to maximize profits by charging more and providing less. Many fail to realize that health care costs are like death and taxes...they can't be avoided because we all need health care services. This creates a situation where competition fails to keep costs under control. (Not unlike gasoline prices going up each year during the heavy travel season...tell me that the competitive market place is controlling the cost of gasoline.) I recognize that insurance companies have been been making great strides to get the costs under control by negotiating prices down, but they only do so to maximize their own profits, not so they can lower their premiums. In the end, we all end up paying and paying and getting less and less in return.
What's the answer? You tell me, because the free market isn't working.
Finch
10:01 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
There are many mandates we all live with - 18 year old males are mandated to sign up for selective service even though we have an all volunteer army. We have mandates that forbid a family from placing their children into public school until they have all their medical shots. We are living with the Republican mandate from 1988 that any person who enters an emergency room must be stablized and you and I are mandated to pay for it. Did you realize the first health care mandate came in the form of health insurance for sailors - during Lincoln's presidency. Medicare has a 3 % overhead, yet the for profit insurance companies charge upwards of 30%. Bonus checks, swanky parties, trips for their executives to the Olympic, and on and on. You and I pay for that in higher premiums to cover luxuries that have nothing to do with health care. Remember, insurance companies do not provide any care, any research. nothing. They are, in essence, like Paypal. They take money, and do their best to not pay any out. They really have no product to sell - they just take our money and try not to pay our bills.
Insurance is the largest form of socialism in the world.