February, 01 2011, 04:48pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
On Healthcare Insurance Ruling: How to Get to Universal Coverage Without a Mandate
On Monday U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida ruled the
Obama administration's healthcare insurance overhaul was
unconstitutional. The law will stay in effect while the decision is
appealed.
WASHINGTON
On Monday U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida ruled the
Obama administration's healthcare insurance overhaul was
unconstitutional. The law will stay in effect while the decision is
appealed.
CLARK NEWHALL
Executive director of Health Justice,
Newhall is a doctor and a lawyer. He said today: "Just like the
government cannot force you to buy a car from GM because there is not
enough mass transit, so too Congress cannot force you to buy insurance
from Wellpoint when there is not enough health care access. Notably,
the Florida judge said that Congress can certainly 'regulate'
insurance, and he also determined that a government benefit program
(Medicaid) is constitutional, but he said that the individual mandate
is so integral to the PPACA [last year's major healthcare insurance
law] that the entire act is void. In other words, the government cannot
say -- you MUST buy insurance from a private company.
"What options are left to Americans if this ruling stands in the Supreme Court?
1) "Buy health insurance that you (or your employer) are increasingly unable to afford; or
2) "Don't buy health insurance and don't get sick; or
3) "Wait until you are 65 and entitled to Medicare before you get sick.
"The final possibility is not yet an option, but with luck Congress
and the Administration will pull its collective head out of the sand,
look around, and realize that Americans care for themselves, for each
other, for their country -- and that American health care must be a
proposition that our Founding Fathers would approve of: 'Everybody In,
Nobody Out.' Make Medicare start at age zero and make it good enough
for everyone's health. We are already paying for Medicare for older
people; why not get what we are all paying for?"
See also: "Medicare should be for everyone"
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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