A federal judge has finally declared what any freedom-loving human has known for over eight years now: Obamacare is unconstitutional. This decision by a Texas judge sets the stage for another Supreme Court visit with the controversial law.
The Texas judge declared that the mandate which makes it a crime to not purchase health insurance, is not constitutional, and the Obamacare law itself cannot survive without that government mandate. According to the New York Times, the entire law is now threatened, much to the chagrin of those who love making demands of people. The ruling was over a lawsuit filed this year by a group of Republican governors and state attorneys general. A group of intervening states led by Democrats promised to appeal the decision, which will most likely not have any immediate effect. The law will almost certainly make its way back to the Supreme Court, luckily threatening the survival of the landmark health law.
In his ruling, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth said that the individual mandate requiring people to have health insurance “can no longer be sustained as an exercise of Congress’s tax power.”
Accordingly, Judge O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, said that “the individual mandate is unconstitutional” and the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act are invalid. –New York Times
The core of the issue arose after President Donald Trump passes his tax cuts. Judge O’Connor was deciding whether the health law’s insurance mandate still compelled people to buy coverage after Congress reduced the penalty to zero dollars as part of the tax overhaul that President Trump signed last December.
Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, who initiated the lawsuit, applauded the decision, saying in a statement, “Today’s ruling enjoining Obamacare halts an unconstitutional exertion of federal power over the American health care system.” He added, “Our lawsuit seeks to effectively repeal Obamacare, which will give President Trump and Congress the opportunity to replace the failed social experiment with a plan that ensures Texans and all Americans will again have greater choice about what health coverage they need and who will be their doctor.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1073761497866747904
In response to O’Connor’s decision, on Friday night, a spokeswoman for Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general, said California and the other defendant states would challenge the ruling with an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.
“Today’s ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the A.C.A.’s (Affordable Care Act, Obamacare’s legislative name) consumer protections for health care, on America’s faithful progress toward affordable health care for all Americans,” Mr. Becerra said in a statement. “The A.C.A. has already survived more than 70 unsuccessful repeal attempts and withstood scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”
Of course, politicians will defend the law, not because they care whether Americans have access to affordable health care (which Obamacare has proven to be anything but), but because they want the government to continue to have the power to tax (steal) whatever they want from the tax slaves in any amount they want for as long as they want.
Whether Obamacare is legal or not, constitutional or not, it is immoral. Legality does not equal morality. It should not need to be said that people should not hurt each other or steal someone else’ stuff, but apparently, everyone needs this constant reminder.
Let’s run NFA 34 & GCA 68 by this guy.
I dropped any insurance when they tried to force this obomination upon us and I’ve made it through and now have reasonable choices. I used the exemptions to circumvent the tax/fine so they can kiss my ass.
My brother thought it was good until he realized his deductible was $6k per incident
I took a risk with no health insurance but I’m glad I did it now. I spent the money I saved on long term food and such. It would have broken me up if I’d a had to pay a deductible like your brother’s anyway.
I should clarify. ACA would only kick in after $6k spent per incident from what I was told. A serious issue would still need six grand paid up front for the Affordability to kick in.
$6000 is doable, $60,000 hurts bad, $600,000 destroys you. The coverage needed is “Major Medical”.
Rank and file FEMA and DHS are not commies. They are mostly white men comparable to first responders. The trouble is always at the top.
Eisen; for once you speak wisely….
ObamaScare was nothing but a scam by Obama to transfer wealth from the middle class to the Government and their scam insurance companies.
I refused to be scammed and am just self insured. You go ask any doctor what their cash price is and its less than 10% is you had insurance.
Health care in America is disastrous and set limits for medical procedures and drugs need to be in place.
Insurance companies and doctors are the Biggest Medical Fraudsters out there. Medicare, the VA and People being billed for cancer treatments they never needed or being diagnosed with cancer at all.
My health care program is: Eat Healthy, drink a lot of water, plenty of exercise and go have fun.
OBAMAcare is not Insurance.
It is a tax on the Working White Man to pay for hospital expenses of the illegal mexicans.
GOD BLESS TEXAS
Obamacare was never anything but a government revenue stream. The worst first black president in history saw how the pharmaceutical companies and healthcare system was raking in the dough and said: “Hey! We want our share.”
the blame-e
Obama Care has a symbiotic relationship between insurance companies and government. It required many employers to provide insurance for their employees that previously did not have it. The insurance companies loved the idea.
Blame-e, that’s right. When the ACA was first proposed the insurance companies had dollar signs in their eyes. The biggest six health-coverage providers took part in writing certain parts of the original legislation. What a boondoggle it turned out to be. It only proved that government-run healthcare SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK AND WILL NEVER WORK. It’s already been tried for almost 9 years now. The individual mandate expires at the end of the year. Let’s see what happens afterward.
Obamacare is what you get from a government as desperate for money was this one is.
Kevin2, excellent idea but let’s add on all the other federal gun control laws as well. The individual mandate for ACA was killed by the tax reform bill but was allowed to remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2019. Last time I checked there’s 22,000,000 people without health coverage and I’m sure for most of them it’s because they cannot afford it. I’ll bet my last dollar this will end up before the Supreme Court. The libturds won’t let go of Obamacare without one helluva fight. The repub majority in Congress has had 2 years to repeal ACA and hasn’t done so yet. This is another good opportunity to finally get it eliminated. Scrapping the individual mandate simply makes Obamacare unenforceable. I think it will be interesting to see how this turns out. I say get government out of health care altogether. All it’s really done is ruin it, just like everything else it touches.
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WHAT HE SAID ! ⬆
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??? BBL
Barnyard Barry was bound and determined to fleece the flock.
Regardless of whether the ruling survives or not, I love to see the Democrats foaming at the mouth, hopefully they drown in their own vomit.
By the time this legal mess gets sorted out, both my wife and I will be in the “broke” Medicare system so this ruling won’t really affect us.
Rellik, I ALWAYS love to see libturds foaming at the mouth. Those times always make my day, LOL.
Good
Is there anything left of Obama’s “legacy”?
Hope not – He was an American hater
He however has left 1/2 of our voters stupid.
Medicare doesn’t cover everything which is why many older folks have supplemental medicare. Now if you are an older veteran, then TriCare is still quite good.
When the government can demand you have a service because they then paradoxically claim it’s a civil right, or else you pay a fine for not having that service, then the inmates are running the asylum. Then one gathers that owning a house is a civil right, and should you be homeless, you would have to pay a fine for not having that service. If eating food and drinking water is a civil right, and you are starving and dehydrated, then you would have to pay a fine.
The Demonrats are chockful of nuts.
Mara,
I’m presently enrolled in the VA system which is actually better than Medicare, but that is due to my physical location. All my treatments are done at civilian medical or hospital facilities as there are no nearby VA Medical facilities. Plus my VA drug costs are far less than Medicare part “D”.
I will enroll in Medicare when the time comes, but I will continue with my local VA doctor. Most civilian doctors here won’t take on new Medicare patients.
Are you sure? Typically the reimbursement is abysmal for MEDICAID patients as historically that was solely for the indigent. Versus Medicare which is largely for the aged. Around here, most will happily take Medicare patients as the reimbursement is much higher.
Medicaid will often pay 10% of what is billed, which would be like a plumber gives you a bill for $250 and the homeowner tries to pay $25.
Medicare typically pays 80% of what is billed but could be 100%.
The biggest issue if you look at the new enrollees in Obamacare are college aged millennials who are typically healthy and yet the Democrats made them Medicaid patients! It’s moronic. No physician wants to take more Medicaid patients especially if it’s something minor like the flu. It’s a huge waste of time and money. What’s more, a large number of federal and stateemployees then got hired to handle Medicaid health claims by these healthy millennials. It’s lunacy.
I don’t read where I mentioned Medicaid, but you make good points. VA is Veterans Administration, which is funded by the federal government directly, for veterans only.
Many people mix up Medicaid and Medicare. Many doctors can only afford to take a few Medicaid patients since the reimbursement is so abysmal versus the risk of malpractice. I don’t know many docs who limit Medicare patients. That seems odd.
Yeah, of course I knew exactly what you meant by VA and I assumed you are on TriCare.
When managed care began, then docs had to negotiate on reimbursement from both Medicaid and Medicare but then regular insurance companies began doing the same. For a time, the only people paying the billed amount were the poor souls who didn’t have insurance. But then most just don’t pay and it becomes an uncollectable debt. That means prices get raised to cover that risk.
Looking at my records, Medicare pays something more like 30% than 80%.
An example: a bit over a year ago I had to have some emergency surgery done in a hospital, the hospital billed roughly $70,000 but was only allowed about $20,000 of it.
A quick check seems to confirm 80-100% or more of actual billing for Medicare. It is partially set by each state and it also is a function of medical cost norms within a state.
Physicians used to relate horror stories about abysmal Medicaid (for the impoverished not Medicare for the aged) reimbursement for services like delivering a child. And then, they risk being sued for 18 years by unscrupulous lawyers and parents.
Would any craftsman put up with being 10 cents on the dollar payment AND being sued for their work? I doubt it.
If government would just get the hell out of the hwalthcare business and let it function like a normal business,we wouldn’t have these problems. Let people purchase insurance plans in other states if ither states have cheaper rates. Competition would take care of most 9f the problems. Those who need federal help in paying,would be means tested,and still will have to pay,even a small amount.
We have a short reprieve I’m afraid. The government is bound and determined to do the single-payer socialist model of healthcare and screw us all. I dread what will happen when Trump is gone and the demons control all three branches after they get enough “immigrants” in here to turn it all blue.
Southside, AMEN to your comments. Government just ruins everything it touches.
They do turn everything they touch to shit, DR
1. This could take years to settle in court.
2. No one’s crying that republicans are pushing Medicare for all in place of bamacare.
3. No one’s even mentioned why we have for profit healthcare and the avg heart attack is $750,000. So yeah, your high deductible might be cool after all. Oh I know, it’s free market capitalism. The same thing that’s brought poverty in the US in large numbers.
4. Republicans lied and repeatably said preexisting conditions are safe. I hope this was worth getting their asses stomped at the polls and getting massive gun control acts passed because all they can see are $ signs. Anyone can end up with a condition keep that in mind.
Conclusion: once again the majority of people in the US are too stupid to know what’s best for them. This is absolutely NOT a victory unless the question was how stupid are the American people.
End for profit healthcare. No wonder insurance is a joke.
Thanks for another important article Mac Slavo. Thanks also to Judge Reed O’Conner for placing the ACA in the proper context. Maybe it will go to the Supreme Court and will permanently be placed on the ash heap of history.
Menzo, ain’t that the truth? The plan I’m on through my employer has a $2600 deductible. I’ve only had to use it twice for a couple of minor things, nothing major. I just do my best to stay healthy and avoid getting sick or injured. If they come up with that single-payer BS I’m done. I’ll drop coverage altogether and won’t care about any penalty. I won’t sacrifice anything else to have health coverage that’s useless.
Now for fuck’s sake can we do the Patriot Act and the NDAA?
Ze Fresh Jam from ze Fazerland, ya…
Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!
California = pure Darwinian shit hole.
Funny I thought that was only supposed to happen under capitalism.
HERE’S THE PROBLEM. Capitalism and socialism are at the very very root the same exact shit. What I mean by that is give a small group of people enough power and watch the shit show commence.
Both do that by design. Don’t even tell me Capitalism doesn’t BY DESIGN. The logical end result of capitalism is monopoly, we’re merely debating how long it takes for that to happen.
tg said, “HERE’S THE PROBLEM. Capitalism and socialism are at the very very root the same exact shit.”
Under either respective system, it originates from a state monopoly.
Obamacare was/is just another spoke in the wheel of”control”. government is collapsing around us while we pay the freight.We will end up Venezuala II.
There is no practical reason for someone with a mint to collect taxes.
Sure there is. It is simply a tool for control.
Oh absolutely there is. They print the money, then rent (loan) it to you, you pay them interest, and then they tax you for using it, or even saving it. Win-win for them, lose-lose for us peons.
I have a pre-existing condition. I am willing to pay extra ONLY for treatment related to that condition. Otherwise,I want decent prices for everything else. Otherwise,the government needs to stay the hell out of personal medical issues
I think the Bridge-too-Far w/ the ACA is that the Fed Gov required you to buy something or face a financial penalty for failure to comply.
Has that ever happened before ?
If you take the requirement to buy auto insurance imposed by most States that results in your Driver’s License being suspended till you get Right w/ the Man as a similar deal, you are close.
Even though it is a thin difference, you can choose to not have a D.L. and not drive and the State Government will no longer pursue you and punish you in any way.
I think the Gov forcing you to buy something and punishing you continuously, forever if you don’t is the un-Constitutional difference.
Now that the ‘Tax’ is gone (thank you Chief Roberts) this immoral scheme is collapsing.
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I take zero pharmaceutical medicines and haven’t been to the physician’s office in over nine years. What a colossal waste of money, time, and effort.
If we in effect paid people to be healthy and exercise and FIT, as well as medically compliant on their prescribed medications (70-80% of Americans deliberately avoid taking their medications properly), then healthcare costs would PLUMMET. But hey, that is common sense.
Instead we force people to have health insurance and tell people falsely that pills will solve their long term neglect of their health. Then penalize ALL by exorbitant health insurance.
It’s carrot or stick…which is more effective in human behavior? Pills have extended longevity an average of nine years of additional decripitude and that is an accomplishment? Nuts!
m said, “What a colossal waste of money, time, and effort.”
If you paid it.