Chief Justice John Roberts signs on to Health Care Act
Posted on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 09:52 AM
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| John Roberts |
Well, here's some humble pie I don't mind eating. In fact, I'm in a positively celebratory mood.
I wish that I could say today's ruling signals a move to the political center for the John Roberts Court, but clearly it means no such thing.
Following the public outrage over the Citizens United decision, had the Roberts Court ruled against the Affordable Health Care Act it could have bolstered a legitimacy crisis for the Supreme Court. For whatever reasons Roberts chose not to aggravate that perception at this time.
But critics like Rush Limbaugh are now contending, with laughable hyperbole, that Obamacare constitutes the 'biggest tax increase in the history of the world.'
Well, sometimes the social compact makes us pay for things that we don't like in order to promote the greater good of the nation, allowing us receive a mutual benefit.
What Tea Party supporters call an 'immoral tax' can also be called 'taking individual responsibility' to insure yourself so that your personal costs aren't passed on to everyone else, or failing that to contribute to the Government's revenue so that it can cover those costs.
When uninsured people seek medical care we all pay for it. Either through taxes or through increases to medical costs. The new mandate takes that burden off us and places it back with the person with no insurance.
You want medical treatment but don't want to get insurance? OK, you can have it but now we'll levy a fine against you.
This is not socialism. This is common sense. You can't get a drivers license without car insurance in some states. The government has just applied the same logic to health care. Applying the same logic to health care makes good sense.
There are people in America who believe they can go without health care insurance. There are people who are certain they will never get sick, never have an accident, never need stitches or break a bone. So when they go to hospital now without insurance for those things they'll be fined.
Once upon a time they thought, wrongly, that what they did had no impact on anyone else in society. Now they'll discover the error of that view and they'll contribute to the greater health of the nation.
That's what taking responsibility for your own actions means. The Court has upheld a sensible law. We all benefit from it.
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EamonnDublin | Jun 29, 2012, 06:07 PM EDT
Chief Justice Roberts is very obviously not unintelligent. He has a very shrewd, logical brain. It is my own belief that he has purposely driven a stake into the heart of Obama and his team and has gone a long way towards ensuring Obama's defeat in November. In the full knowledge that a President Romney will repeal the Healthcare bill, Chief Justice Roberts has ensured two major things - firstly the defeat of Obama and, secondly, that the Healthcare folly will never get off the ground. Congratulations to a very clever and intelligent man. Of course, Obamarama is too busy campaigning to have a clue what's going on. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
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hollabackgurl | Jun 29, 2012, 04:29 PM EDT
"God said...?"I have lived a long time on this earth and I have never heard God, Krishna, Allah, Vishnu, or any other deity say anything ever. EVEN WHEN YOU ADD CAPITALS LIKE THIS FOR EMPHASIS, SEE, you can't tell me He's been chatty lately.
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Cheryld | Jun 29, 2012, 03:04 PM EDT
GOD SAID" I knew you BEFORE you were formed in your mothers womb'. That means life starts even before conception to all you Catholics who dont read your GOD'S instructions. SO now we are forced to fund ABORTIONS with ROBERTS "catholic" decison. Next time he wants to be a catholic or an AMERICAN...tell him to decide who is more powerful for eternity. Tell him THIS IRISH has disowned him as an accomplis to the murders of hundreds of thousands of infants. ON that ONE issue he AND ALL CATHOLICS should have voted NO.
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mayoman | Jun 29, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT
Thank God Justice Roberts had the good sense to do the right thing.
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EphraimKibbey | Jun 29, 2012, 02:52 PM EDT
@TheOldPerfessor - The US doesn't just pay a bit more either. We pay OVER twice as much per capita than any of the other top six industrialized countries. So if we are paying twice as much, it seems like there is a lot of room for those insurance premiums to fall once everyone is contributing their fair share. In August those of us not trying to scam the system will get a rebate from our insurance company thanks to the ACA. This will also help to drive down premiums because the companies can't keep what they over charge us. Now add in the good old capitalist pressures of competition in the health exchanges in 2014 and we may be talking real savings.
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Bythebay | Jun 29, 2012, 01:32 PM EDT
eiriamach, I hope you're wrong but if you're right then the US and its system of checks and balances is a total failure.
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Bythebay | Jun 29, 2012, 01:29 PM EDT
the US has been attempting to have universal healthcare since FDR and failed. The most notable furor about it was when Hilary Rodham was assigned the task by Billy early in his first term and was so villified it all had to be stopped almost immediately. It will be interesting to see how it's actually administered and if it actually does what its supporters claim it will.
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joan1954 | Jun 29, 2012, 01:13 PM EDT
From a reading of American history there was anger when FDR signed the Social Security Act and when Johnson signed the medicare act. I was against this but for those of us with high premiums if they would cut the high premiums and stop health insurance fat cat CEO's from their bonuses then maybe this might work. Make it affordable for all but this being the USA and private business just won't happen. Mind you some of this is tongue in cheek.
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TheOldPerfessor | Jun 29, 2012, 12:43 PM EDT
All of Rupert's Rangers believe that they are getting something for themselves by throwing 30 million Americans under the bus. Actually, the working poor have to use the emergency room as their first line of health care. The hospital has to help heal them even though they can't pay. It's the most expensive kind of health care and somebody's paying for it. Let's see - it's not the working poor. Who could it be? If you look at the facts, America is paying far more for health than the rest of the civilized world in countries where they make sure that everybody gets health care.
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eiriamach | Jun 29, 2012, 09:35 AM EDT
Probably, Roberts voted on crass political motives to prevent a public perception of the Court as the GOP cheering squad. The fine paid by the uninsured is not a tax even if the IRS collects it. It is a small contribution to the cost that we all bear for health care for the uninsured. The uninsured will still be getting theirs cheaply. But they can boast that Obama has not forced them to buy something they don't want. They'd rather freeload than pay their fair share. That's what freedom means to the GOP, right?
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