The Healthcare Puzzle

A court in Florida, as well as in Virginia, has declared that the mandate clause in the healthcare overhaul bill is unconstitutional. The judge said that Congress does not have the power to force people to purchase a product, while the White House claims activism in the judiciary (as does all people that are on the losing end a judgement). And while the debate is far from over, there are other things at work that need to be addressed.

First, this is a good day for people that continue to hold the government accountable for sticking to the Constitution. While the document is inconvenient and causes problems for a government that wants to get things done quickly, that should not be looked down upon as a problem, but a success. The Constitution was designed to get in the way of the government and make legislation and projects take time to get things right. In that sense, the blocking of a healthcare bill is the right thing to do. Too many times the Constitutionality of a bill is overlooked "for the good of the nation" (cough, cough, the USA PATRIOT ACT, cough, cough), and this was an instance in which that wasn't allowed to happen.

And while that is a very good result to come out of the decision, there comes a backside to this. While John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House, claimed that the foremost expert on the financial impact of legislation, the CBO, was wrong, the fact still remains that repealing the bill will have significant financial consequences. The bill lowers healthcare spending overall, through a variety of measures, and that allows the deficit to be lowered by billions of dollars. However, the Republicans have been so insistent on repealing the measure that they refuse to look at the positives. Like any group that does not get the news it wants, the Republicans in power have essentially called the CBO unreliable, and then used a out of context quote by that very panel to make another point for their side of the healthcare debate. The fact remains that repealing a bill simply because your political opponents passed it is not a good enough reason to do it, especially when it causes significant financial damage to the country.

Now we could get into the many problems facing America, but I prefer to be an optimist. While we argue and debate topics like healthcare and the overhaul bill, it is important to remember that there are many different angles that need consideration. And while this bill has run into some grey areas with the Constitution, and therefore will be subject to further Judicial Review, it also does a lot of good. So, putting all my history of Republican bashing aside, I am willing to issue them a challenge instead. For all of the American public and the good of the Constitution, repeal the bill. But, you need to put something else into place that either matches or increases the positive financial and health benefits of the bill that the Democrats passed. If it can be done, than I will sing your praises. However, if it can't, than there needs to be a serious conversation about whether or not repeal is the best option right now. Because while America is a land whose laws need to be enforced, that won't do any good if she collapses under the weight of her own debt. A flawed America is always better than a dead America.