There has been a lot of talk in the recent days about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Most of these questions center around the individual mandate. Two judges have ruled in favor of the law, and now two judges have ruled against it, one of whom is apparently a certified idiot.
I for one have never been a fan of the individual mandate. And I was not alone in loathing it's inclusion in President Obama's Health Care package. For those of you who remember, the mandate was a REPUBLICAN idea. It was added to the bill to try and entice some Republican support. The Republicans asked for and received a whole mess of changes to the Presidents plan, including unnecessary restrictions on family planning, the destruction of the public option, as well a whole host of other ideas.
And yet lately the Republican Party has been ALL OVER the individual mandate as the MAIN reason the ACA needs to be "repealed and replaced". In fact the individual mandate has become the primary target when it comes to attacking the overall legislation. The GOP simply will not let up. And quite frankly I say we call their bluff.
Democrats in the Senate need to hold of a vote on repealing the individual mandate. Make it a separate bill that doesn't touch the rest of the legislation, simply repeals the individual mandate. Bring in for an up or down vote on the Senate floor and see what happens.
I am sick of seeing people like Harry Reid DEFEND the individual mandate.
It was a terrible idea, I recall a great uproar here at Dailykos, which I was a part of when the Democrats put the mandate into the bill as a way of compromising with Republicans. We were not alone in our opposition to this GOP brain fart of a plan. President Obama rejected the idea of an individual mandate as far back as 2007.
Don't believe me?
Above is a video of Senator Barack Obama at a Democratic Primary debate on July 23, 2007. This is the Youtube sponsored debate, skip ahead to the 2:00 mark to hear Senator Obama's thoughts on John Edwards idea to create an individual mandate. He was completely against it. He knew it was bad politics back then and he stayed consistent all the way through to the later debates with just him and McCain.
It was only when he needed to bring Republican Senators on board that President Obama bit the bullet and adopted the GOP's insurance company giveaway. What did we get for that HUGE concession? We got the current GOP tirade of "repeal and replace" and claims of unconstitutionality.
The Republicans wanted the mandate because it would force the millions of uninsured Americans to buy health insurance from their donors/friends at the big insurance companies. They also probably assumed that the mandate would be so unappetizing and so politically unpopular that it would work as a poison pill, killing the whole health care bill. So for them it was win/win either way.
So why are we defending this GOP idea? Because the GOP opposes it? Not good enough. The GOP is giving us a great opportunity to fix this bill by taking out one of the things THEY wanted and we DIDN'T! We can undo that disastrous compromise and bring this legislation closer to what President Obama originally wanted, while at the same time taking the constitutionality question completely off the table.
So lets do it. Lets call their bluff. Bring it up for a vote and lets see where they really stand on the mandate. If the mandate gets repealed good riddance! If it doesn't, it will be because Republican Senators voted to keep it in place. Let them go home and explain that flip flop to their constituents come 2012.
Obligatory Rec List Update:
Wow, thank you very much for recommending this diary. I wrote it right before I went to bed last night and didn't really think it would make any waves. Boy was I wrong. Now I wish I had stayed up to follow the conversation. I have been reading the comments as much as I can, though as you could imagine following all the different threads in a diary with almost 900 comments is pretty hard. I have just a few points I want to make.
- I don't claim to be a constitutional law expert. But I am pretty sure the mandate is technically legal. But that doesn't make it a good idea. It would also be perfectly legal to require every person in the United States to own a gun. Doesn't mean it's a good idea.
- My only proposition was to force a vote on the issue. We really have nothing to lose politically. If you hate the mandate, or would prefer a public option or "medicare for all" or whatever then a successful repeal is great. Give us an opportunity to fix it. The Republicans lose a valuable talking point, the court challenges are a moot point and Democrats are on the right side of the issue with the general public.
Though realistically the repeal wouldn't be successful.
First off Democrats overwhelmingly support the mandate for some reason. Mostly because they don't have any other idea how to reduce costs. But also because they're idiots. Second, Republicans DEFINITELY support the mandate because it makes their friends richer, and keeps the bill controversial. But whether or not the repeal effort passes or fails is beside the point. The vote is a political maneuver. When the repeal doesn't pass, we can hang the unpopuar, supposedly "unconstitutional" mandate around the GOPs neck.
I imagine ads in which Democratic challengers in Red States run on the fact that the current Republican Senator voted in favor of the mandate. In Blue states Dems can use their usual line of "we didn't have the votes" since that seems to be the only thing they can manage to say.
- Many people have brought up the "fact" that if you remove the mandate then the whole health care law falls apart. Nobody has explained why it falls apart. Someone in the comments mentioned sky rocketing costs, as if we don't already have that, and as if the mandate will actually do anything to stop it. There is nothing in the law that forces prices to go down, just more "invisible hand" of the market bullshit that works in theory but not in reality.
My answer to sky rocketing costs is so simple it could never become law. PRICE CAPS! Impossible I know, but only because this administration (as much as I support their efforts) has NO BALLS WHATSOEVER when it comes to standing up to corporations on behalf of the American people.
- I realize a "medicare for all" or universal health care system is also mandated. That you pay taxes and it goes into the kitty. And that you have no more choice with that system than with the current mandate. But there is a HUGE difference.
First off, I have a say in what my Government does, very little say, but a say nonetheless. Private insurance companies are beholden to no one but their investors. I am comfortable paying taxes to the Government because it is MY Government, I can work to throw the bums out if I don't like what they're doing. I cannot do that with a private corporation.
The second difference is that I am used to paying taxes, if they go up a little because everyone in the country is now paying into a national health plan it won't matter, I can use it when I need it. But to force people to buy a product for the rest of their life, that is just pure evil. Particularly when the companies you're forcing us to buy it from are pure evil. So evil they have an anti-trust exemption.
At a time when the rest of the industrialized world is heading the opposite direction, our country has turned into bizarro world. Instead of providing universal health care like France or Canada the United States is forcing everyone to pay for it. Legal yes, but terrible politics.
You're basically telling everyone in America that they are going to have a debt that can be as much as several thousand dollars, to a private corporation, every year, for the rest of their life, no matter what they do. A debt to a business who's product/service they may never use, and have no influence on.
At least our tax dollars provide a service. At least our tax dollars are more or less accounted for. And at least those in charge of how our tax dollars are spent are held accountable by us. I would take a single payer mandate over a corporate mandate any day of the week because I know it's goal would be patient care, not profit.
Thanks again for recommending my diary everyone.