TPMDC Individual Mandate
Obamacare
Why An Adverse Supreme Court 'Obamacare' Ruling Puts Republicans In A Tough Spot
John Boehner
If the Supreme Court overturns part or all of President Obama's health care law, House Republicans will find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. They will be implicitly responsible not just for the demise of the individual insurance mandate and other unpopular parts of the Affordable Care Act, but also its popular provisions and the return of some of the insurance industry's harshest practices, like discriminating against people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Recent reporting by both the New York Times and Politico suggests the GOP congressional leadership might try to mitigate the political liabilities of HCR being overturned by introducing piecemeal legislation to reinstitute popular pieces of the law -- provisions banning discrimination, and allowing children to be covered by their parents' health benefits until they're 26. But that creates a host of new practical and political problems for the GOP.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Individual Mandate, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare, Supreme Court
Barack Obama
A History Of Republicans Slamming Judges (VIDEO)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conducts a news conference along with fellow GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.
If the week of April 2, 2012, goes down in political history, it'll be for the fact that Republicans suddenly rediscovered their reverence for the third branch of government.
What brought about the change of heart? President Obama's comments on Monday and Tuesday in which he opined that an adverse Supreme Court ruling on his health care law would represent an extraordinary act of judicial overreach.
On Tuesday, in an extraordinarily unusual step, three Republican appointees to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals went toe-to-toe with the president in the political sphere. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell advised Obama to "back off." The courts' authority is to be respected, regardless of outcome, he said.
This is a rich new twist for the GOP, which has made decades of sport out of attacking an out-of-control judiciary for legislating from the bench. You literally only have to look back to this GOP presidential primary to find examples of Republicans questioning the courts' legitimacy and even threatening to neuter them using powers reserved for the other two branches of government.
Here's a brief digest:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Jim DeMint, John Cornyn, John McCain, Michele Bachmann, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Supreme Court, Tom DeLay
Barack Obama
Associated Press Ignores Obama On Drawing False Equivalences On Health Care
President Barack Obama
One of the key moments of President Obama's Tuesday speech before an Associated Press luncheon came at the end, when he urged reporters not to cast partisan disagreements about the key issues of the day -- health care, the environment, the role of the federal government -- as a product of equal intransigence on both sides. Republicans, he noted, have abandoned their previous support for Obama initiatives -- from transportation funding, to cap and trade, to the health care reforms that comprise 'Obamacare' -- many of which emerged as conservative alternatives to more liberal policies.
His hosts weren't listening -- and as a result they've made Obama's points about Republicans and the media for him.
Topics: Associated Press, Barack Obama, Chuck Grassley, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Mitt Romney, Obamacare, RomneyCare
Health Care
Top Legal Commentator Toobin Stands By Doomsday Prediction For Health Care Law
health care reform, obamacare, supreme court
Hindsight hasn't changed Jeffrey Toobin's mind.
A week after oral arguments led him to predict that the Supreme Court will strike down a key piece of President Obama's health care law, the legal commentator stands by his gloomy forecast, and explained his reasoning in full detail in an interview with TPM.
"I'm not wild about being so far out on a limb, but all I can do is call it the way I see it, and I did," Toobin said by telephone Monday evening.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Anthony Kennedy, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Roberts
Barack Obama
Obama Cautions Against 'Judicial Activism' On Health Care
President Barack Obama during his 2012 "State of the Union" address
In his first thorough comments since the Supreme Court began weighing the constitutionality of health care reform, President Obama launched an impassioned defense of his law on Monday, and cautioned conservatives against embracing the judicial activism the right claims to deplore.
"Ultimately I'm confident the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress," Obama said at a Rose Garden press conference. "And I just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. An unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example. And I'm pretty confident this court will recognize that and not take that step."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate
Health Care
Health Insurers Prepare For Post-Supreme Court Doom Scenario
Last week's Supreme Court oral arguments over the constitutionality of "Obamacare" raised a terrifying specter for the health insurance industry: What if a 5-4 conservative majority rules the individual mandate unconstitutional and severs it, while the rest of the law stands?
If that happens, then by 2014 insurers would be forced to sell insurance to all consumers, and not hike premiums based on peoples' pre-existing medical conditions -- but without a requirement that everybody enter the risk pool. That, experts believe, would create an inherently unstable system: Older, sicker people would buy insurance, healthy people wouldn't, premiums would rise, more healthy people would drop their coverage and so on until the market collapsed altogether.
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) filed an amicus brief with the court asking the justices to also strike the coverage-guarantee provisions, if they determine that the mandate is unconstitutional. But according to an industry source, insurers are also readying themselves for the doom scenario.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Supreme Court
Health Care
Supreme Court Justices Struggle With Health Policy And Key 'Obamacare' Facts
In weighing the constitutionality of the health care law's individual mandate, and possibly in deciding what to do with the rest of the law if they strike that provision, Supreme Court justices will have to confront key questions of health policy: What purpose does the mandate serve? How connected is it to other measures in the law? If those other measures must fall, too, what's left? And is that new, diminished law the sort of policy that Congress might have passed if the mandate had proved politically infeasible in the first place?
That's a troubling reality for reform supporters.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Antonin Scalia, Constitution, Donald Verrilli, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Insurance, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court
Health Care
Conservatives Struggle With Key Anti 'Obamacare' Argument
Justice Antonin Scalia
For the challengers' constitutional attack against the individual mandate in President Obama's health care law to withstand scrutiny, they need to maintain two key questionable arguments.
The first is the plaintiffs' claim that the law's mandate and the penalty enacted to enforce the mandate are fully distinct. Their challenge depends on the court viewing the mandate as a command, and not part of a more general incentive.
Relatedly, they claim that the command itself is meant to draw non-participants into a market they may not want to enter. For this to fly, they have to contend that the market the government is regulating -- or that Congress intended to regulate -- is the market for health insurance and not the much broader market for health care services.
This has become a central point of contention, and it could be an issue on which the court's decision turns. And yet squaring the challenger's argument with the history and purpose of the health care law presents opponents of the law with a question they've had a very hard time answering.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Antonin Scalia, Constitution, Donald Verrilli, Elena Kagan, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Roberts, Paul Clement, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Wednesday's Supreme Court arguments over the fate of the president's health care law were defined by the same themes that marked the first two days: Liberal justices directed their toughest questions on the challengers, while conservative justices relished the opportunity to tie the administration's lawyers in logical knots.
That may seem unsurprising -- why wouldn't the same ideological divisions that have dogged the law for two years carry over into the high court, all the way through six hours of oral arguments?
But Wednesday's arguments weren't about the controversy at the center of the legal challenge -- can the government compel people to buy health insurance? They were about the court's discretion to interfere with the rest of the law, and a decades-long understanding of the relationship between the federal government and the states. Most legal observers assumed the issues at stake on Wednesday were no-brainers. So the fact that the conservative justices once again aligned -- at least rhetorically -- in sympathy with the challengers suggests just how tempted they are to swing for the ideological fences.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Barack Obama, Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Roberts, Medicaid
Supreme Court
The Slippery Slope Of Insurance Mandate Analogies (VIDEO)
In Tuesday's oral arguments, the Supreme Court's task was to examine the constitutionality of the health insurance mandate at the core of President Obama's health care law. Though the arguments touched on the limits of the commerce clause and past judicial precedents, much of the discussion was devoted to a series of slippery slope analogies postulated by the Justices and plaintiffs in the case.
In the world envisioned by the Supreme Court, a constitutional insurance mandate could plausibly lead to government mandates of all sorts, including for cell phones and broccoli. Cable news took one step closer to the proverbial slippery slope by imagining the litany of mandates an unrestrained federal government could unleash on the American public.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Supreme Court
Health Care
The Remaining Health Care Arguments: Fewer Fireworks, Possibly Bigger Consequences
After Tuesday's explosive arguments over the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law threw conventional wisdom about the Supreme Court's likeliest course of action out the window, it would be easy to conclude that highest-stakes issue was behind us.
It's not.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Medicaid, Supreme Court
Health Care
After Rough Day In Court, An Optimistic View For Supporters Of 'Obamacare'
The snap reactions to today's Supreme Court arguments about the constitutionality of the health care law's individual mandate gave reform supporters a collective case of heartburn. The conservative justices seemed broadly hostile to the law's requirement that everyone carry health insurance. President Obama's Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli, was widely panned by experienced court watchers for stumbling at key moments. Jeffery Toobin -- a seasoned vet of the high court -- called it a "train wreck" for the Obama administration.
Here's some antacid.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Anthony Kennedy, Constitution, Elena Kagan, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Roberts, Walter Dellinger
Individual Mandate
Supreme Court Zeros In On Health Care Law's Centerpiece
The linchpin of President Obama's health care law will come into focus Tuesday as the Supreme Court hears two hours of oral arguments on whether Congress can require Americans to purchase insurance.
For supporters and foes of the law, and for court watchers who have been awaiting this case for over two years, Tuesday is the main event.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, HCR/SCOTUS, Harry Reid, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Rick Santorum
Health Care
John Roberts May Have Tipped His Hand On 'Obamacare' Reasoning
In a little-noticed exchange Monday, conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts may have tipped his hand that he's entertaining the possibility that the health care law's individual mandate can be upheld on a constitutional basis that's different from the one supporters and opponents have made central to their arguments.
For over a year now, observers and experts have assumed that the court's final decision will hinge on the extent of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce. But the justices could also upend that conventional wisdom, and in a worrying sign for the plaintiffs on Monday, Roberts unexpectedly highlighted one way they could do that.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Roberts, Taxes
Health Care
Alito, Breyer Call Out Obama Lawyer For Dubbing Mandate Both A 'Penalty' And 'Tax'
On the first day of health care reform arguments before the Supreme Court, two justices needled a top Obama lawyer for simultaneously calling the fine that will be paid under the law for not purchasing insurance a "penalty" and a "tax."
The confusion arises because of the administration's argument that the power to enforce the individual mandate is rooted in Congress' taxing power -- but that the mechanism itself is designed to be a penalty, not a revenue-generating policy.
The narrow but important distinction created a communication challenge for the lawyer representing the Obama administration.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Affordable Care Act, Antonin Scalia, Donald Verrilli, Elena Kagan, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court
Supreme Court
Justices Skeptical That Health Care Mandate Is A 'Tax'
The Supreme Court kicked off oral arguments over President Obama's health care law Monday by dedicating 90 minutes to the one issue on which the White House and the Republican challengers agree: The justices should hand down a speedy ruling on the constitutionality of the law this summer, rather than punt it to 2015 or beyond.
Lawyers for the Obama Justice Department and for the 26 Republican-led states challenging the law agreed that an old statute called the Anti-Injunction Act -- which forbids people from challenging taxes in court unless they've already been assessed by the government -- does not apply in this case. The Supreme Court enlisted outside counsel to make the opposite case.
The justices appeared broadly skeptical that the law's fine imposed on Americans who fail to carry health insurance qualifies as a "tax."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Antonin Scalia, Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas, Constitution, Elena Kagan, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court
HCR/SCOTUS
McConnell: GOP Weighing Legislative Response To 'Obamacare' Ruling
Senate Republicans are preparing legislative strategies for the possibility that the Supreme Court ultimately rules the health care law's individual mandate unconstitutional.
At a Capitol press briefing Friday, McConnell declined to discuss the details, which, he noted, would depend on the extent of the court's decision. But his message was essentially: Stay tuned.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Mitch McConnell, Obamacare, Supreme Court
HCR/SCOTUS
The Glitch That Allows The Supreme Court To Throw Out All Of Obamacare
Jason Maehl/ Shutterstock
We know there's some chance the Supreme Court will decide to take a pass on President Obama's health care law for a few years -- until after its mandatory coverage mandate takes effect in 2014. And we know that if they do rule on the central challenge to the Affordable Care Act this year, precedent is on the side of upholding that piece of the law.
But what happens if they determine that the mandate is unconstitutional anyhow?
On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments about just how "severable" the ACA is. Major legislation often includes what's known as a "severability clause," to prevent courts from invalidating entire laws when they find that small sections of those laws violate the Constitution.
By dint of a small, but highly consequential legislative oversight, the ACA does not include such a clause. That means it'll be up to the justices to decide how much of the law can stand if they rule that the individual mandate violates the Constitution.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Obamacare, Supreme Court
HCR/SCOTUS
What's In A Mandate? Why SCOTUS May Take A Pass On 'Obamacare' -- For Now
When the Supreme Court convenes next week to hear arguments about the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law, the first issue they will consider is the basic character of one of the law's crucial features: the requirement that uninsured Americans either purchase coverage or pay a fine to the federal government.
Better known as the individual mandate, it's the provision of the health care law at the heart of the GOP's constitutional complaint. The plaintiffs -- the 26 states suing over the law -- contend the individual mandate exceeds Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce, and the court's ruling on that issue could have the most sweeping legal impact, perhaps upending decades of Commerce Clause jurisprudence.
But before they get to the question of whether the individual mandate is an unconstitutional expansion of the Commerce Clause, the justices have agreed to consider whether they even have the power to take up this case, since the mandate does not go into effect for another two years. And that decision will ride on a fine distinction: Is the individual mandate a tax or is it a penalty?
The arguments they will hear, and the decision they ultimately reach, will determine whether the court can proceed to rule on the merits of the law, or whether they must punt on the substance until after the mandate takes effect in 2014. Either decision would place several key actors in awkward political predicaments without any easy escape routes.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Insurance, John Roberts, Medicaid, Medicare, Obamacare
HCR/SCOTUS
Supreme Court Prepares To Determine Fate Of U.S. Health Care System
Shutterstock /stefanolunardi
In one week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on a legacy-defining case for President Obama as it determines whether a crucial piece of his signature legislative achievement meets constitutional muster. The health care reform law's path to the high court has underscored a climate of supercharged partisan politics, and the highly anticipated decision expected this summer, in the dead heat of presidential election season, will help determine the trajectory of the nation's health care system.
The main question facing the justices is whether the law's requirement that Americans purchase insurance falls within the limits of federal power under the Constitution. They'll also hear arguments on whether, if the mandate is deemed unconstitutional, other aspects of the law such such coverage guarantee also need to be struck down. There's a chance that the court will punt the case to after 2014 under a law that says a tax may not be challenged in court until it is being collected.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Constitution, HCR/SCOTUS, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Obamacare, Republicans, Supreme Court
Health Care
DOJ Files Brief Defending Key Health Care Law Provision To SCOTUS
President Barack Obama speaks on the economy in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.
Here's the Justice Department's brief defending the new health care law's individual Supreme Court.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Supreme Court
Health Care
Poll: Majority Now Support The Individual Mandate
Image From Lenetstan / Shutterstock
A new CNN poll on the issue of health care reform finds that support for the law's central and most controversial element, the individual health insurance mandate, has climbed into majority territory.
In the new poll, support for the individual mandate -- requiring people to get health insurance -- has climbed to 52%, with 47% opposed. When the last survey was taken in June, that a majority of 54% opposed it, with 44% in support.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Health Care, Individual Mandate, Polls
Obamacare
Supreme Court To Review Obamacare Individual Mandate
The U.S. Supreme Court building
The U.S. Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a key part of President Obama's health care law, and will likely issue a decision by July 2012, in the middle of next year's election.
Monday's announcement comes just days after the latest appeals court ruling on the law's mandate that people purchase health insurance. The three judge panel in the District of Columbia upheld the constitutionality of the provision, as have several other appeals courts. One has ruled that the provision should be stricken.
However, it's that particular case the Supreme Court has chosen to review -- one joined by over two dozen states and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. It has journeyed through conservative district and circuit courts, both of which ruled with plaintiffs, so it may not be the ideal bellwether. But as conservative reporter Philip Klein notes, very bright conservative litigators are arguing this one.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Obamacare, Supreme Court
Health Care
D.C. Appellate Court Upholds Constitutionality Of Obamacare
President Barack Obama
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals -- comprised of two judges appointed by Republican presidents and one by a Democrat -- upheld the constitutionality of a key section of President Obama's health care law in a ruling released Tuesday.
Senior Judge Laurence Silberman and Judge Harry Edwards ruled to uphold the law -- specifically the mandate that requires Americans to purchase health insurance -- on the merits. Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented from their ruling, but he, too, would have ruled against the plaintiffs seeking to overturn the mandate. His opinion argued that federal courts lack jurisdiction to enjoin the mandate, which functions similarly to a tax.
Silberman, a conservative all-star, was first nominated to the D.C. Circuit by Ronald Reagan, and became a senior judge when Kavanaugh -- a George W. Bush nominee -- was confirmed to the court. Edwards was nominated by Jimmy Carter.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan
Health Care
Paul Ryan Predicts SCOTUS Will Strike Health Care Law Mandate Giving GOP Leverage To Nix Obamacare
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) wants Congress to retain control of the fees that the United States Patent and Trademark Office collects and divert them to other government programs.
The chairman of the House Budget Committee -- and author of the GOP's controversial budget -- predicted Thursday that the Supreme Court would nix the individual insurance mandate in President Obama's health care law. But though he outlined alternative means by which to assure universal health care coverage that he supports, he said the GOP would use the Court's action to force a fight over dismantling Obamacare.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Paul Ryan
Health care lawsuits
11th Circuit: Health Care Law's Individual Mandate Is Unconstitutional
In a split decision, a three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the health care law's individual mandate exceeds Congress' Commerce Clause powers and is therefore unconstitutional. However, unlike the district court ruling preceding this case, the judges found the mandate to be "severable" and thus holds that the rest of the law can stand.
In a joint opinion, Judges Joel Dubina -- a Reagan appointee elevated to the circuit court by George H.W. Bush -- and Frank Hull -- a conservative Clinton appointee -- "concluded that the individual mandate exceeded congressional authority under Article I of the Constitution because it was not enacted pursuant to Congress's tax power and it exceeded Congress' power under the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Constitution, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate
2012 Presidential Primaries
Poll: Romney Trails Bachmann Nationally For GOP Primaries
A new national survey from Public Policy Polling (D) has a shocking message for the Republican primary race: Michele Bachmann leads Mitt Romney in a two-way race, and also edges ahead in the multi-candidate race without Sarah Palin in it.
In an initial field, including Sarah Palin: Romney 20%, Bachmann 16%, Palin 12%, Perry 11%, Cain 10%, Paul 9%, Gingrich 6%, Pawlenty 5%, Huntsman 2%.
Then in a second question, without Palin in the race: Bachmann 21%, Romney 20%, Perry 12%, Cain 11%, Paul 9%, Gingrich 7%, Pawlenty 5%, and Huntsman 3%.
Finally, a two-way race with Bachmann and Romney: Bachmann 44%, Romney 41%.
In the previous poll from a month ago Bachmann was much further back in the low teens, and Herman Cain was the second-place candidate against Romney. There was no direct two-way question.
The survey of 730 likely GOP primary voters was conducted from July 15-17, and has a ±3.6% margin of error.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Individual Mandate, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Polls, Pres '12
Constitution
Bush-Appointed Former Scalia Clerk Upholds Constitutionality Of Health Care Law On Appeal
President Barack Obama
For the first time, a Republican appointed federal judge -- part of a three-judge circuit court panel -- has ruled that the individual insurance mandate in President Obama's health care law is constitutional.
The Sixth Circuit appellate court panel -- the first appellate court to rule on the question -- dismissed the plaintiffs' claim that levying a penalty against people who choose not to purchase insurance exceeds Congress' Commerce Clause powers. The justices also dismissed the underlying argument that the provision amounts to "regulating inactivity."
The development represents a significant victory for the Obama administration, which is facing numerous challenges to the mandate from individuals, conservative interest groups and Republican governors. A number of district court judges have ruled on the question already, and in a striking pattern, all Republican-appointed judges have ruled against the administration, and all Democratic judges with the administration. Today's development upends that trend.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Constitution, George W. Bush, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate
2012 elections
Bachmann Slams Romneycare: The Mandate Is Unconstitutional At The State Level, Too! (VIDEO)
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
During her appearance Sunday on Face The Nation, Michele Bachmann staked out what might be the toughest line in the Republican field against Mitt Romney on health care: That the individual mandate is not only unconstitutional at the federal level -- but the mandate is unconstitutional at the state level, too, as Romney passed it in Massachusetts.
Romney has tried to massage the issue, by arguing that health care reform is largely a state matter, and a conservative would respect states' rights on the mandate while allowing other states to come up with their own solutions. But not Bachmann -- she rejects the states' rights notion on this one.
During the interview, Bob Schieffer asked Bachmann whether Romney's Massachusetts health care reform should be held against him.
"I firmly am against the individual mandate. I think it is unconstitutional, whether it's put into place at the state level by a state legislature or whether it's put into place at the federal level. I think it's unconstitutional," said Bachmann.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Pres '12
Tim Pawlenty
Pawlenty Boasts Of Health Care Record That Saw More People Go Without Insurance
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)
Tim Pawlenty has made a little sport out of criticizing Mitt Romney's health care record -- particularly when the former Massachusetts governor isn't standing right in front of him.
Look to Minnesota, Pawlenty says. There, he boasts, he was able to reform the health care system "the right way."
This is code in the GOP for "no individual mandate." Back when even some conservatives supported the idea, Romney's plan included a mandate. But then it served as a model for the Obama administration's own health care reforms, and thus has become a huge liability for him in the primary -- particularly the mandate.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty
Health Care
Inactivity My A$$: Judge Dismisses Key Argument Of Health Care Reform Foes
President Barack Obama
Oral arguments are over in the highest profile lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform law. So the new parlor game for observers and stakeholders is identifying key moments from Wednesday's proceeding in Atlanta that indicate where the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals may be headed.
The three-judge panel in the case, brought by 26 mostly Republican states and others, posed tough questions to both plaintiffs and defendants and made it clear they found merit in arguments from both sides. But in a brief exchange with plaintiffs' attorney Paul Clement, one of the judges -- Bill Clinton appointee Frank Hull -- dismissed one of health care reform foes' key arguments out of hand.
Specifically, Hull cast aside the plaintiff's claim that by compelling non-participants in the insurance industry to buy health insurance, it regulates "inactivity."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Paul Clement, Roger Vinson
Pres '12
Gingrich Column: 'I Signed the Pledge To Repeal Obamacare, Have You?'
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)
Amidst Newt Gingrich's attempts at damage control over his criticism of Paul Ryan's Medicare privatization proposal, and his own past support for the individual health insurance mandate, Newt Gingrich took another step -- not only publicly signing a pledge in Iowa to repeal President Obama's health care reform law, but publishing a column in the right-wing Human Events on Wednesday, entitled, "I Signed the Pledge To Repeal Obamacare, Have You?"
The column begins:
Yesterday [Tuesday] in Mason City, Iowa, I signed the Obamacare Repeal Pledge, sponsored by the Independent Women's Voice and American Majority Action.
Obamacare is such a massive and complex power grab of a law that there are countless specific reasons to oppose the law.
The column declares the first of the many reasons to repeal the law: "It's unconstitutional. Period," and argues vigorously against the individual mandate, calling it "an assault on our country's founding principles of limited, clearly delineated federal powers and an erosion of the rule of law." Totally unmentioned in the column, of course, is that Gingrich himself advocated for an individual mandate, going back to 1993 and even just until a few years ago (and last weekend, too).
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Iowa caucus, Newt Gingrich, Pres '12
Health Care
Gingrich: Focus On My 1993 Mandate Support Is 'Political Amnesia' (VIDEO)
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich
In another key moment from his interview with Greta Van Susteren Tuesday night, Newt Gingrich said that his 1993 statements in support of the individual health insurance mandate had to be placed in context of the opposition to Hillary Clinton's push for universal health care at the time, when the mandate was being talked about in order to stop government-run health care. And he decried the "political amnesia" that led people to focus on those comments, and forget about his more recent activism against the mandate.
Gingrich made the comments during the same interview in which he said, "Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate," regarding his now-retracted comments against Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) proposed budget that would privatize Medicare.
"I do not support a mandate. I am opposed to Obamacare. I am in support of the 26 attorney generals (sic) who have filed suit," said Gingrich. "The Center for Health Transformation that I supported, that I helped found, has been actively opposed to Obamacare for two-and-a-half years.
"That was a clip from 1993, when in fact, the conservative position was to have individual insurance, in opposition to Hillarycare -- because she wanted everybody to be in government -- but let's get that out of the way, okay?"
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Greta Van Susteren, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Newt Gingrich, Pres '12
Health Care
Appellate Court Questions Plaintiffs' Standing To Challenge Health Care Law
President Barack Obama
A three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing one of the pending challenges to the health care reform law has sent lawyers for both sides a somewhat unusual letter, suggesting the court may be focused on whether plaintiffs have standing to bring suit in the first place. The court also appears to be focused on whether, assuming plaintiffs do have standing, their claims are ripe for adjudication.
The one-page memo asks counsel to submit 10-page briefs answering a few questions. Most significantly, they question whether the plaintiffs have alleged an "injury" or "imminent injury," given the fact that the health care law's individual mandate will not be in effect for another two and a half years. Additionally, the judges want to know how broadly the plaintiffs are challenging Congress' power to require people to buy health insurance under the Constitution's Commerce Clause.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Constitution Party, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate
Health Care
The GOP Proposes 'Obamacare' For Seniors -- Just Don't Tell Democrats Or Republicans That
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
If I told you that the chairman of the Republican senators' reelection committee wanted to phase out the existing Medicare system and slowly replace it with Obamacare, would you believe me? No major caveats, no clever tricks. Just a slow transition from Medicare as we know it to the same health care law Republicans have sued and attempted to repeal -- but for seniors only.
You probably wouldn't. But you'd be wrong.
The long-term Republican budget plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) phases out Medicare as a guaranteed, universal, single-payer system and replaces it with a government-subsidized private insurance program. If that sounds familiar, it should.
"It's exactly like Obamacare," said NRSC chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Capitol Thursday. "It is. It's exactly like it. Which strikes me as bizarre that you're seeing so much pushback [from Democrats]."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bill Huizenga, Budget, Eric Cantor, Government Health Care, Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Jay Rockefeller, John Cornyn, Medicare, Mike Pence, Republicans, Ron Wyden
Health Care
Weiner Says SCOTUS Will Rule Against Health Care Law, Paving Way For Public Option
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
This is more in the spirit of partypooping than of celebration. But on the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, one of the law's most dogged defenders, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), admitted he thinks the Supreme Court will strike down the individual mandate. It's not that he thinks the mandate is unconstitutional, but that the court has become so partisan, that its conservative justices will rule against President Obama in a 5-4 decision. He wasn't glum about it, though -- if the mandate goes he said it will pave the way for Congress to pass the public option.
"If lightning strikes, and it turns out that as many of us believe, the Supreme Court turns out to be a third political branch of government and they strike down the mandate -- big deal," Weiner said, expressing a 'so what?!' sentiment. "Big deal!"
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Anthony Weiner, Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Public Option, Supreme Court, Tea Party
Health Care
Majority Dislikes Individual Mandate, But Opposes Health Care Repeal
President Barack Obama
The health care reform law turns one year old today, and a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that while Americans are evenly split over whether they like the law, a majority opposes repealing it.
In a wide-ranging survey, Kaiser found that opposition to the law focused mainly on one provision, the individual mandate that requires all Americans to have coverage or pay a penalty. And despite Congressional Republicans' declarations early this year that the midterm elections were a referendum on the law, the Kaiser poll found that a majority of Americans oppose repealing it -- and that one-third would actually like to see it expanded.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Health Care, Health Care Repeal, Individual Mandate, Polls
Health Care
FreedomWorks Gives Health Care Repeal Pointers To House GOP
Dick Armey, FreedomWorks chairman
In a sign that the public is tiring of GOP efforts to repeal the health care law, the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks is pressing Republican leaders to go on the offense -- double down on the repeal push while advocating conservative health care policies.
In a memo to House Republicans, the leaders of FreedomWorks, including former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, suggest that the public is souring on repeal because the GOP lacks a coherent set of reforms with which to "replace" the health care law.
"We're sending this memo because we believe your ultimate success depends as much on how you handle the "replace" as the "repeal" side of the strategy. We think it's time to start emphasizing what you're for as much as what you're against," the memo reads.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Dick Armey, FreedomWorks, Health Care, Health Care Implementation, Health care lawsuits, House Republicans, Individual Mandate, Insurance, Repealing health care, Republicans, Tea Party
Health Care
Virginia Agrees To Implement Key Provision In Health Care Law
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, (third from left), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (center), Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (third from right) and others observe a moment of silence
Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wants the Supreme Court to declare "Obamacare" unconstitutional. But in the meantime, the rest of the state's government is moving right along to get the law implemented.
By a vote of 95-3, the Virginia General Assembly agreed to develop health insurance exchanges states, which each state will be required to have by 2014 under the Affordable Care Act.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Health Care, Health Care Implementation, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia
Health Care
Republicans See Opportunity To Capture Health Law If SCOTUS Strikes Mandate
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
An interesting dynamic is taking shape in Congress as health care lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate wind their way up to the Supreme Court.
One potential outcome -- and the one that Republicans are hoping for -- is that the Supreme Court will invalidate the mandate and sever it from the law, leaving an unstable health care policy in place.
Theoretically, Congress could just change that mandate in a way that would easily pass constitutional muster -- simple tweaks that could pass in a matter of days and leave the implementation process largely unmolested.
But for that to happen, Republicans would have to play ball -- and that would mean giving up new-found leverage to really undercut the law. Don't fool yourself into thinking they'd give up that power willingly.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bob Corker, Constitution, Health Care, Health care lawsuits, Individual Mandate, Orrin Hatch, Republicans, Supreme Court
