http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110126/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_overhaul_costs_2 Medicare official doubts health care law savings WASHINGTON – Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday. The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates. Foster's assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he's open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.
This is all kabuki. It will go to an Appeals Court than one side or the other will bring it to the Supreme Court. Right now I think it's safe to say four have prejudged it to be constitutional (Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan) and four have prejudged it to be unconstitutional (Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia). This decision comes down to Anthony Kennedy.
We could save a lot of money as taxpayers if we just got rid of the other 8 justices, since Kennedy pretty much decides every case. barfo
Not sure what your point is. How is eliminating 8 justices who cancel each others votes the same as anointing Obama dictator? barfo
Interesting that he threw out the whole bill because of the individual mandate even though parts of the bill have nothing to do with that.
Obama's lawyers claimed 14 times in their argument that the entire legislation was dependent on the individual mandate.
http://bainbridgega.com/news/publish/013111hcare.shtml Obamacare has been ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge in a 26-state lawsuit on Monday. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Florida made the ruling that is certain to be appealed. Many hope the issue is forwarded directly to the Supreme Court rather than take the time consuming track through all the courts before the final ruling is ultimately made by the Supreme Court. The critical issue is the mandate that everyone is required to purchase health insurance, and if a person does not do so, then the individual must pay a penalty. The ruling stated that this was an overreach of federal government authority in that they have no authority to require persons to make a purchase. Another critical issue was the expansion of the eligibility for medicaid. This was done in the 2,000 page healthcare bill in order to shift some cost away from the federal government. The burden of billions of dollars of additional costs was placed onto the states without providing any federal funds.With the mandate ruled unconstitutional, and no severance clause in the bill, Judge Vinson ruled the whole healthcare bill unconstitutional. The Republican leaders of the House of Representatives began weeks ago putting together a new healthcare bill that concentrated on cutting healthcare costs without the tax increase included in Obamacare nor the cost increases placed business that is contributing to the lack of economic recovery, and jobs. Their goal is to re-enact a number of provisions that help people who can not now get heathcare coverage. This judge was appointed by Regan so it would follow he has a conservative bent. However, the healthcare bill is clearly unconstitutional in at least a couple of areas so these rulings come as no surprise. Now, it's on to the US Supreme Court on appeal.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/01/left_unreasoned_and_unprepared.html Left unprepared for ObamaCare ruling ... These are complaints, not legal arguments. And they suggest that the left was totally unprepared for the constitutional attack on their beloved handiwork. After all, the recent mocking by the left of conservatives' reverence for the Constitution suggests they are mystified that a 200-year old document could get in the way of their historic achievement. They are truly nonplussed, and so they vamp, not with reasoned analysis but with an outpouring of adjectives. ... From the opinion (the defendants are the Obama officials): Having determined that the individual mandate exceeds Congress' power under the Commerce Clause, and cannot be saved by application of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the next question is whether it is severable from the remainder of the Act. In considering this issue, I note that the defendants have acknowledged that the individual mandate and the Act's health insurance reforms, including the guaranteed issue and community rating, will rise or fall together as these reforms "cannot be severed from the [individual mandate]." Oops. Not some crazy judge, but the administration was the source of the notion that the individual mandate can't be severed from the rest of the law.
A wonderful editorial http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...6116090813454296.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Mexico has pretty bad healthcare. We have an employee down there that got one of those blood clots in his leg that could spread around...he has to take a bus to mexico city from Acapulco every week for a followup. Long wait too. Dealt with a few other issues there...its not very good at all. Very slappy.
