Political Quotes

“Finally, continuing on the point about the argument on ObamaCare and referring to a different piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, I wanted to talk just a little bit in more detail about the justification of this mandate to purchase health insurance, the requirement that every individual in the United States be the recipient of a specifically defined policy by the U.S. Government. The rationale the government has provided is that if we do not do this, then free riders or people who do not have insurance but might get sick will end up shifting all of the burden of their care onto the rest of us, and therefore the government needs to regulate that by forcing everybody to buy insurance. On March 20 the Journal published a piece by Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Vernon Smith, a former CBO Director and an economics professor, respectively, which I think really debunks this argument on the merits. It explains the real reason this mandate, as well as a dramatic expansion of Medicaid, is unconstitutional. I just wanted to highlight the points they make. First, Holtz-Eakin and Smith address this individual mandate question. States, of course, have general police power to regulate the conduct of their citizens, but Federal power, by contrast, is very limited over individuals. The authors make the important point that heath care policy has traditionally been a State function. Health care needs relate to individuals and vary from person to person and region to region.…”