Thursday, June 28, 2012

The very small silver lining in the SCOTUS Obamacare decision

Lots of pundits are trying to put some lipstick on this pig of a ruling. They claim it will help Romney get elected and reign in the abuse of the Commerce Clause. At the end of the day, this ruling is still a disaster for those who oppose government intrusion into our healthcare system. The mandate and most of the rest of the law are still in place. Also, the decision kicked open the door for a whole new way for our government to impose their will on citizens subjects serfs. You can now be charged a tax for failing to eat broccoli or failing to buy a Chevy Volt. There is no way to put lipstick on that pig. The very small silver lining in the SCOTUS Obamacare decision is since the Obamacare mandate is a tax, it can be undone through the budget reconciliation process in the Senate. The irony of undoing the key part of this abomination with the same procedural trick Democrats used to pass it is sweet irony.
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Obamacare’s health insurance mandate is in fact a tax levied on those who do not purchase insurance, Senate Republicans will look to repeal the full law through the budget reconciliation process.

Reconciliation was used to push Obamacare through the Senate in 2009. Generally reserved strictly for budget-related measures, it eliminates the possibility of a filibuster, meaning Republicans would only need 51 votes to repeal that portion of the law – or even the full law itself.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) seemed open to that approach during a speech at The Heritage Foundation shortly after the Supreme Court handed down its decision. The court’s ruling “does present some options for us” to pursue more unconventional options for repeal, DeMint said. He mentioned reconciliation as a potential avenue.

A senior Senate Republican aide involved in the repeal effort later confirmed to Scribe that the GOP will use the budget reconciliation process in an attempt to repeal the full law, not just the portion requiring all Americans purchase health insurance.
The other small benefit is Obama can't force states to expand their Medicare program to cover 15 million low income individuals.  They will be forced into the insurance pools and face premiums and copay's.

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