Much at stake as Supreme Court weighs future of 'Obamacare'

Do Americans care about what is legally correct or do we want to do what is necessary for moral reasons and world-wide competition reasons?

I don't expect the SCOTUS to decide either way, but that is really the question that Americans need to answer at the polls. Too bad nobody is asking us.

The ACA is unconstitutional. There's nothing in the US Constitution about health care, therefore it is left to the states and if not the states, to the individual. Federal income tax on individuals is also unconstitutional. The states are required to pay, but not the individuals. There are many things that have become part of Federal law which should never have been allowed. Don't get me started about Social Security. Legally, it is wrong, but morally and for the poorer 30% of Americans, it is necessary. The right way to get all these unconstitutional needs addressed would have been through Amendments.

No it’s not. Not being mentioned in the Constitution does not make it unconstitutional. Otherwise the CDC, NASA, CIA, NSA, basically every aspect of our modern lives would be unconstitutional, which they clearly are not.

Perhaps you missed the part where the Constitution says that Congress shall make laws it sees fit? They can be interpreted by SCOTUS. But this insane version of originalism is laughable on its face.

The ACA is unconstitutional. There's nothing in the US Constitution about health care

I’ll stop you there.

And the idea that the individual mandate, which SCOTUS has already ruled is a legal tax, that tax now zeroed out, is not separable from the rest of the law, which is the legal standard for striking it down, beggars belief.

Graham DeShazo

And the idea that the individual mandate, which SCOTUS has already ruled is a legal tax, that tax now zeroed out, is not separable from the rest of the law, which is the legal standard for striking it down, beggars belief.

I don-t really want to wade in the American healthcare debate, but it beggars belief that this "mandate" was mischaracterized as a "tax" by one of the judges for political reasons. Obviously, this punishment for not participating in a scheme is not a tax.

In the event, the concept for the Obamacare seems to be borrowed from the Dutch system. But as far as I can see they took all the bad parts from the Dutch system and ignored the good ones (for example the Dutch system allows for completely free competition, with regional limitations, and the punishment for not participating is not simply grabbed but put into an escrow acccount, which is accessible to those who pay).

sorry should have been WITHOUT regional limitations

The ACA is unconstitutional. There's nothing in the US Constitution about health care

Then maybe it’s time for another amendment.

It seems to me though that good health care would be included somewhere in ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

If you’re not healthy you might well lose your life: you’re not at liberty to live the life you want to live: and it’s hard to be happy when you’re either ill or bankrupt. Or both.

Zappos, It wasn’t 1 justice: it was 5 which is more than 4. And thems the rules. You lost. sorry - not sorry.

And my qualifications? I taught American history and American Government at the college level for 10 years.

Arguments that this law, while perhaps new SCOTUS will over-rule, are factious.

‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

That is the Declaration of Independence, not the constitution.

As a non-American, it's all the same to me. I don't need a piece of paper written hundreds of years ago in a world vastly different to today's to tell me how things should be.