Today’s Washington Examiner has an article about the concerns that Gun Owners of America has raised about the health care bill which is currently on the Senate floor. I am quoted therein, and I think that GOA has a good point. The Examiner article concludes with a contrary quote: “It is very clear they are […]
Archive | Health Care
Dean Flier on Health Care Debate
Last week, Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier commented on the debate over health care reform. His article begins: As the dean of Harvard Medical School I am frequently asked to comment on the health-reform debate. I’d give it a failing grade. Instead of forthrightly dealing with the fundamental problems, discussion is dominated by rival […]
Could an Individual Mandate Violate Article I, Section 9?
Most discussions about the constitutionality of an individual mandate in health care reform proposals have focused on whether such a mandate could be justified under the federal government’s enumerated powers in Article I, section 8. (See, e.g., these VC posts.) Some (including me) have opined that, under existing case law, an individual mandate would probably […]
Health Care and Federalism
Emory law professor Robert Schapiro has an op ed arguing that the federal mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance included in the current health care bill is both constitutional and consistent with federalism [HT: Alison Schmauch]. I agree that the mandate would probably be upheld under current Supreme Court precedent. However, like many other […]
Debating the Constitutionality of an Individual Mandate
The latest installment of the Federalist Society’s “Originally Speaking” debate series features UC Irvine Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Baker & Hostetler partner David Rivkin sparring over the constitutionality of an individual mandate. We’ve had something of a debate over this subject here on the VC as well. Our prior posts are collected here.
Nineteen Eighty-Fat
… As Mickey Kaus puts it. This kind of thing is enough to remind me why, despite the fact that I consider it a beginning point rather than necessarily always the end point, I am fundamentally a libertarian. We have ways of making you stress-free: Someone should write the fictionalized dystopian nightmare of mandatory “wellness” programs […]
Fined for Inadequate Insurance
Wendy Williams and her husband liked their health insurance plan. The premium and annual deductibles made sense for them, and a more “gold-plated” plan was not worth the money. Yet Massachusetts’ health care regulators disagreed, and forced the Williams to pay a $1,000 fine if they wished to keep their insurance plan — a plan […]
Socking It to (Some of) the States
Kimberly Strassel’s column in today’s WSJ details several provisions of the Baucus health care reform bill outline that give special treatment to certain states to reduce the impact of health care reform. A central feature of the Baucus bill is the vast expansion of state Medicaid programs. This is necessary, we are told, to cover […]