Obamacare: Round Two

From the Kettering-Oakwood Times and other Times Community Newspapers

There are many conservatives angry at the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare. Many of those same conservatives feel Chief Justice John Roberts, in “siding with” the liberal arm of Court, betrayed those who felt he was a sound conservative voice. There are also liberals pointing to the decision as vindication for Barack Obama and the Democrats who pushed for “affordable health care”. I share neither of those viewpoints.

While the decision and the law are complex, the future of the legislation is far from decided. This case boiled down to Justice Roberts saying to the American people that the method of forcing citizens to buy health insurance, and fining them if they don’t, may in fact be unconstitutional, but change what it’s called and that doesn’t mean Uncle Sam can’t take it out of the taxpayers’ other pocket instead.

The decision in a nutshell said Americans can’t be fined for not buying health insurance but there is nothing unconstitutional about shafting Americans through a federal tax. Despite the fact that Obama and his henchmen repeatedly stated that the individual mandate was not a tax, Roberts pointed out that’s exactly what it is. And under our Constitution, that’s just fine as long as it is acknowledged it is a tax and collected by the IRS (which is hiring 16,000 new agents to do just that).

What Roberts alluded to in his majority opinion was that if we don’t like how this was shoved down our throats, we (the voters) need to remedy that through our elected officials, not through a challenge in the courts. Several comments in the decision suggested to me that Roberts was telling us that we allowed this to happen, and we have to fix it.

In coming months I will be looking much deeper into the issue of Obamacare and what it really means to us; and for us. I actually believe there are aspects of the plan that are good. I think most would agree the pre-existing condition exclusion issue needed to be addressed. And I think allowing “children” up to age 26 to be covered by Mom and Dad is a good idea. But beyond that, we’re trying to rebuild the entire system to address several issues that could be fixed by tweaking.

I firmly believe, as others do, this President, who has shown he loves big government, wants that same government to be in complete control of one of the most important aspects of our lives; our health care. And this is the first step toward that end.

I ask you this; can you name a single government-run activity or program that has been successful? The government can’t control its own budget or manage its own infrastructure. Funding for its very operation is allowed to lapse as political battles rage on. Corrupt and inept officials are allowed to continue running operations that affect us all. And you believe government can do a better job of handing your health care? You’d better believe it or your IRS bill will go up on April 15^th!

This summary of Obamacare was attributed to Donald Trump. I have no way of knowing if he actually said it, but I bet if he didn’t, he wishes he had:

We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and taxed if we don’t, which purportedly covers ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that didn’t read it, signed by a President who smokes, with funding administered by a Treasury Chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which is heading toward bankrupting Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who would be considered obese and financed by a country that’s broke.

More to come…..