Friday, April 06, 2012

Healthcare and the Supreme Court

Attached a link to an interesting article "Is public option the last one?" emphasizing that IF the Supreme Court decides to strike down the entire health care law it might create a predicament for our legislators to resolve the healthcare quandary: Congress wouldn't be able to rely on the private market, because that would require a mechanism to force healthy people into the risk pool. And it would have trouble relying on a federal-state partnership, because that might be considered coercive. Ironically, striking down the individual mandate, or the entire law, would create an inevitable choice:a federal insurance program that would clearly pass constitutional muster. Medicare represents such a model, which currently covers the elderly and is run entirely by the federal government. Medicare gives no role to the states and therefore does not coerce them into anything. An expansion of this program to all Americans funded by a payroll tax would be a workable solution. In my opinion it would be fiscally and morally irresponsible to continue the status quo. Happy Passover and Happy Easter Yours Bernd

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