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Politics-Health Care Reform-Constitutional Scholars-The Court

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | January 3, 2010 at 05:00 am

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Health Care Reform passed it's final hurdle in the Senate on Christmas eve. To move the bill forward it now has to be merged with the House bill. Some believe this will run into some stumbling blocks, but in the end the Democratic leadership will ensure a merged bill acceptable to both the House and the Senate.

The mainstay of the bill to reduce costs is to mandate that all Americans must purchase health insurance, including the young and healthy. This has made the bill palatable to insurance companies which will face many restrictions in this bill.

Conservative Legal scholars believe that the can stop the bill by challenging its constitutionality in the Courts. They argue that the Federal Government does not have a mandate to require its citizens to enter in a contract with private companies. The bill in its present form requires that Americans that do not have insurance coverage from their employer, Medicare or Medicaid, must get insurance from private insurance companies. Failure to do so would result in a 2% penalty of their income.

The constitutional scholars believe that the court would rule in their favour.

Although it would affect only those who do not get insurance from their employer, Medicare or Medicaid, the mandate is a central component of Democrats' reform plans, which operate under the assumption that bringing everyone into the national insurance pool -- particularly young, healthy people who do not have coverage -- will reduce premiums across the board. By adding millions of new customers, the mandate is also designed to make reform more palatable for insurance companies, which will face new restrictions and requirements.