Dear Editor:
Hopefully Obama Care will be found to unconstitutional on 2 merits. First, insurance is regulated through the McCarron Act of 1944 which gives oversight to the states not the federal government. The 10th Amendment of our Constitution states that Congress has no right to interfere with in state commerce, only interstate commerce. Second is the individual mandate. If this is upheld there will be no check on governmental powers. They might force you to buy a fuel efficient car from GM or you will be fined. Justice Scalia pointed out that broccoli is healthy. Buy it or you could be fined.
The original 10 year cost was $900 million. The CBO now estimates the cost is $1.75 trillion. If it is a typical government program the actual cost to taxpayers will be even higher.
If you’re 20-40 years old you are in the healthiest demographic. Unfortunately you’ll have to pay full freight to make this scheme work, although a more cost effective approach is a catastrophic health care plan.
I am all in favor of permitting preexisting conditions and allowing children to stay on their parent’s policy until age 26. The President says this will lower your insurance. As the oped last week showed that is a lie. Who in their right mind thinks this would lower costs?
Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and in the Senate by Richard Burr (N.C.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) have a proposal that would allow you put up to $5,000 per year in tax credits (100 percent deduction) into a health savings account that can be used towards medical expenses or insurance. Currently it is a use it or lose it proposition. Allow the unused funds to stay and let it grow tax deferred so when you have a large expense it can be tapped.
I agree with Dr. Bassam Haddad of HUMC that the high cost of malpractice insurance must be addressed though tort reform. Texas and California have done so and rates have dropped. Currently most doctors utilize the cover your butt approach so they can’t be sued. This drives up costs.
Did you ever notice how few choices you have in NJ for car insurance? I’m lucky that I work in the securities field and have a cost effective health plan in my industry. Too bad I live in NJ. Unlike most states it’s unavailable here, because to sell insurance in NJ you must offer every kind. In Pennsylvania there is no such rule and that is why they have many more insurance companies offering policies then we do. Why can’t I make my own decision on what type of insurance I’m comfortable with? If we could buy insurance from any company across America we would have many more choices available, lowering costs.
Unlike what the Democrats say, no Republican I know is opposed to contraception. We just don’t believe that it or Viagra should be mandatory. Again this drives costs up.
Scott Siegel
VP Hoboken Republican Committee
I have a great deal of respect for Scott Siegel and enjoy reading his editorials, however, I felt compelled to address his letter regarding the unconstitutionality of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” , AKA Obamacare. Scott’s arguments are driven more by ideology than logic or the law. Scott states that the Act should be considered unconstitutional because insurance is regulated by the McCarron Act of 1944. The McCarron Act is not part of the constitution so using it as
a justification for saying that Obamacare is not constitutional does not make sense. Also, ironically, the McCarron Act was enacted in
response to a Supreme Court decision confirming that the Federal Government does indeed have the authority to regulate insurance under the Commerce Clause (United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Association). Also, Scott’s suggestion that the Federal government should not have the authority to interfere in intrastate commerce, is undermined by his suggestion that we should all be allowed to buy any insurance plan across state lines.
The United States has among the worst health outcomes of all industrialized countries even though we pay more per capita on healthcare than any other country in the world. What we are doing is obviously not working for the vast majority of our citizens, and is bankrupting our nation. Obamacare was a republican idea already
implemented by a republican governor in Masssachusetts. Our state government forces me to buy auto insurance. Our federal government has the authority to tax us, draft us to fight in wars, force us and our employers to pay for unemployment, pension plan, medicare, and
disability insurance. But for some reason charging a penalty (or rememoving a tax credit) to those that lay the cost of their irresponsible behavior at the feet of the tax payer is unconstitutional. On it’s face this argument
makes no sense.
Sincerely yours,
Brian Jennings