Beyond the fact that this bill could literally collapse the individual health insurance market in South Carolina, it is also a tribute to fiscal irresponsibility. By giving a tax deduction to South Carolinians who do not carry insurance, the state is essentially paying people to free ride. That’s money, by the way, that will not go to hiring teachers or putting cops on the streets or building schools because it is being diverted to this crusade against Obamacare.
The good news is that this misguided scheme is likely to be struck down in federal court. Under longstanding constitutional law, federal law invalidates state laws that “stand … as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.” Since the sole purpose of this South Carolina bill is to undermine a federal health care law, it should be struck down by the courts.
Even if this scheme is eventually struck down, however, it could do a great deal of damage in the interim. If the bill becomes law, it will mistakenly lead many South Carolinians to believe that they can forgo insurance without consequence. As a result, the cycle of healthy people dropping insurance coverage until they are sick will begin and could continue for months or even years until a final court decision strikes the law down.
Teaparty: Just Let Uninsured People Die (CNN GOP debate, Ron Paul) (by NoMoreBlatherDotCom)
“Papa” John Schnatter, Papa John’s founder and CEO, is back in the headlines once more for his assertion that there’s no way on God’s green Earth he can afford to provide health care for a portion of his employees, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Now, Schnatter hasn’t been hurting for…
Whedon On Romney (by WhedonOnRomney)
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have been obfuscating their plans for Medicare, Medicaid and what they will do to reform the health care system.
| — | —90 DAYS, 90 REASONS |
So let’s be brutally honest here. The Romney-Ryan position on health care is that many millions of Americans must be denied health insurance, and millions more deprived of the security Medicare now provides, in order to save money. At the same time, of course, Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are proposing trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy. So a literal description of their plan is that they want to expose many Americans to financial insecurity, and let some of them die, so that a handful of already wealthy people can have a higher after-tax income.
It’s not a pretty picture — and you can see why Mr. Romney chooses not to see it.
| — | Paul Krugman, Death by Ideology - NYTimes.com |
President Obama’s Full Speech from Fairfax, Virginia - October 5th, 2012 (by BarackObamadotcom)
President Obama: Politicians Shouldn’t Decide What Health Care You Get (by OFAClips)
“This isn’t about “lesser evils;” it’s about accomplishing the greatest amount of good we can, starting with minimizing the amount of unnecessary death in the world. The fact that we can’t save every life doesn’t mean we shouldn’t save some.”
“So, about that sick joke: What Mr. Romney actually proposes is that Americans with pre-existing conditions who already have health coverage be allowed to keep that coverage even if they lose their job — as long as they keep paying the premiums. As it happens, this is already the law of the land. But it’s not what anyone in real life means by having a health plan that covers pre-existing conditions, because it applies only to those who manage to land a job with health insurance in the first place (and are able to maintain their payments despite losing that job). Did I mention that the number of jobs that come with health insurance has been steadily declining over the past decade?
What Mr. Romney did in the debate, in other words, was, at best, to play a word game with voters, pretending to offer something substantive for the uninsured while actually offering nothing. For all practical purposes, he simply lied about what his policy proposals would do.
How many Americans would be left out in the cold under Mr. Romney’s plan? One answer is 89 million. According to the nonpartisan Commonwealth Foundation, that’s the number of Americans who lack the “continuous coverage” that would make them eligible for health insurance under Mr. Romney’s empty promises. By the way, that’s more than a third of the U.S. population under 65 years old.”
