by Andrew Zarowny, 12/15/2018
U.S. District Judge Reed O′Connor ruled yesterday that Obamacare is unconstitutional. That the individual mandate ′tax′ penalty from the Affordable Care Act, ACA, now removed by Congress, made the whole program a violation of the Commerce Clause. This may eventually overturn the 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge O′ Connor of the U.S. 5th District Court of Appeals made the decision after hearing arguments from a lawsuit filed in Fort Worth, Texas by attorney generals from 20 states. Democrat lawyers vow to appeal the ruling, which will inevitably wind up back in the Supreme Court.
In the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, the ACA was allowed to be the law of the land based on the notion that the penalty for not participating in the individual mandate was a tax. Otherwise, the very idea of the federal government forcing citizens to buy a product or service is blatantly unconstitutional. Led by President Donald Trump, the Republican controlled House and Senate eliminated the individual mandate in 2017 as part of a federal spending bill. Signed by President Trump into law, the bill provided that the ′tax′ penalty would remain in place until 2019.
The decision by Judge O′Connor was hailed as a triumph by President Trump and many Republican politicians. The President tweeted a call to Congress, especially Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi, to now come up with a new health insurance program, one which would protect those people with preexisting health conditions. President Trump has often advocated for such a plan which would allow for insurance providers to sell across state lines, which would encourage competition and lower insurance costs.
The individual mandate was the lynchpin for Obamacare. Without it, the ACA would never be sustainable, let alone affordable. Penalties for not complying with the mandate were devised to increased steadily over the first 10 years of the ACA. Eventually, the tax penalty would be so high that an individual would find it cheaper to buy health insurance.
Obamacare will not disappear any time soon, however. Yesterday′s ruling did not include any injunction to end the ACA immediately. Instead, there will be no changes until the Supreme Court gets to hear this latest case. Hopefully, by then, Congress may act to develop a new plan which will comply with the U.S. Constitution. Many of the newly elected Democrats to Congress are calling for a ′MediCare-For-All′ program. But such a program would cost an estimated $32 Trillion dollars over the next 10 years. So, it is more likely that a better, private health insurance plan will be developed and passed by the next Congress.
For more REAL NEWS and views follow Andrew Zarowny on Twitter @mrcapitalist. Also follow Andy at his own website, www.nationalistpundit.com and look for his new blogs at http://proamericaonly.org/. Support this website via Patreon.
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