ObamaCare (PPACA)
A simple summary of where we are with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or ObamaCare. The Supreme Court ruled on June 28, 2012 that the law was not unconstitutional, but offered confusing explanations within its decision. “The Affordable Care Act is constitutional in part and unconstitutional in part,” Roberts wrote. First, The Court upheld the federal takeover of 1/6th of the US economy and ObamaCare implementations will continue. On August 1, 2012 the controversial HHS contraceptive mandate took effect. Second, the Court said that it is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but (who) choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation is within Congress’s power to tax.” But, “the individual mandate cannot be upheld as an exercise of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause. That Clause authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce, not to order individuals to engage in it.” Third, as for the Medicaid expansion, "that portion of the Affordable Care Act violates the Constitution by threatening existing Medicaid funding," Roberts wrote. "Congress has no authority to order the States to regulate according to its instructions. ... The remedy for that constitutional violation is to preclude the Federal Government from imposing such a sanction." So there you have it; ObamaCare continues as a tax, the mandate is unconstitutional (but because the program continues as a tax that item is irrelevant), and the Medicaid expansion cannot be forced on the states. Open enrollment for the new federally run health-care exchanges are scheduled to start Oct. 1, 2013, with all Americans having access to affordable health insurance options effective January 1, 2014. See timeline here. Find your state's Health Exchange here. State-by-State Insurance Information is available at this site.
Archive Related Items

The Best Letter On Repeal of Obamacare - written by an average citizen

8/3/17
from The Gray Area:
8/2/17:

This open letter to Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tn) was written by Michelle Garcia of Murfreesboro, Tn.

Michelle explains not only the need to repeal and replace Obamacare, but paints a big picture of the damage that such government legislation can have.

You must read this outstanding letter that very effectively summarizes and reveals the interrelationship of healthcare, immigration, patriotism, socialism and government overreach.

I just hope the tyrannical left doesn't seek out to destroy her and her family for speaking her mind.

-------------------------------------------

Dear Senator Alexander:

We are calling on your influential office and arguments to halt our nation's plunge toward socialized medicine and to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act now. We claim no special powers, but we do have a special insight regarding the aphrodisiac known as socialism. Daily sound bites struggle and fail to convey that this Democrat ACA contrivance is economist Jonathan Gruber's evil genius for confiscatory taxation, income redistribution and criminalized non-compliance policed by a burgeoning IRS. It is an unholy alliance with pharmaceutical and insurance interests; red tape rendering medical professionals despondent and their career paths unattractive – and somewhere down the way, health care for some in need of it. Our family just spent $400 we could ill-afford on food, medicine and personal hygiene basics that we shipped to extended family in Venezuela, where these are in dire shortage or unavailable. Rice, canned tuna, powdered milk and over-the-counter medicines. This is our second such shipment in just six weeks. Because the health-care system, along with every other public commitment, has been trashed by its deliberately miscreant government. In 2004, you were with us for an especially proud moment for our family: My husband’s naturalization ceremony. Its significance for us only grows, when we reflect upon the family's history since that day. Evident of his patriotic dedication to our United States, my husband enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2013 and serves with the Tennessee Air National Guard; this but one of numerous academic and public-service achievements since “an American born in Venezuela,” as he describes himself, emigrated.

His intellect, experiences, compassion and gratitude give his particular citizenship a perspective that few among our “natural-born” can appreciate, as all of our family treasures our liberties and security. We married in 1998 – the year that brought Hugo Chavez to power, and saw a prosperous Venezuela plunge into socialism's somber destitution. It feels eerily near to us, yet absurd and surreal. And, it grew all the nearer once the truth of the ACA came to light. It is against this backdrop that a constitutional conservative, small-government ideology has galvanized in our family. A “me-too” family, community, or government is not an institution of “leadership” – and this world desperately needs leadership. To allow Nashville or especially Washington to dictate life's critical choices regarding self-preservation may be the global “norm,” but it is categorically un-“American.” Repeal with one hand, and boldly take a clean sheet of paper with the other.

We encourage and support you, Senator Alexander. The USA has never been nor should ever be a “me-too” nation, and a virtuous yet efficient system for health care as a top domestic priority is in your hands, and surely within range of the intelligence, vision and grasp of your colleagues.

Michelle Garcia

More From The Tennessean:



365 Days Page
Archive Related Items
Comment ( 0 )