But what is most deeply disturbing about this ruling is that the Supreme Court essentially re-wrote the statute instead of returning it to Congress for clarification. Not buying health insurance when the government decides you can afford it is now called a tax, despite the fact that none of that language is utilized in the bill and the political process required to pass such a tax was ignored, as the PPACA started in the Senate and all new taxation must originate in the House. Proponents of the bill, including President Obama, repeatedly hammered home the fact that the mandate contained in the bill was not a tax. So the only logical conclusion is that the Supreme Court essentially rewrote a law they were supposed to rule on. The hubris of the judiciary to usurp the power of the legislature, even forgetting the egregious abridgement of justice such a tax policy represents, is frightening to say the least.
There is not a precedent or procedure for punishing the judiciary at this level for gross misconduct, but Congress should begin working on some kind of official censure immediately. The most damning proof of the court’s wrongdoing is written in the dissent, summed up quite nicely in Justice Kennedy’s assertion that “The fundamental problem with the court’s approach to this case is this: It saves a statute Congress did not write.”
You might ask why Congress, particularly the Senate which is still dominated by Democrats that are quite pleased with the outcome of the case, would want to go to war over NFIB v. Sebelius. Our government functions on the basis of checks and balances. It is the job of the democratically-elected Congress to write laws. The appointed (and supposedly apolitical) judiciary decides the Constitutionality of those laws. By interpreting a statute in a manner entirely inconsistent with the wording, the Supreme Court has effectively abrogated their traditional role and assumed the work of our primary and most direct representation in the federal government.
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The sky is falling, the sky is falling! cry whiney Republicans who thought they could subvert the U.S. Constitution by packing the court with right-wing ideologues.
PPACA joins other popular government mandates like Social Security, Medicare, the purchase of auto insurance, or the enforcement of speed limits for that matter and is now the law of the land with the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval. I can hear you right-wing drones muttering that it’s different because you can choose not to drive. I agree, but if you get sick, or have an accident and can’t afford the out of pocket expense, guess what? You will be treated and the costs are passed on to all of us with insurance. We pay for you and we don’t have a choice in the matter.
Right-wingers are raising such a stink that it’s easy to forget that the mandate idea was actually first dreamed up in a right-wing think tank, and of course first enacted in Massachusetts by none other than Mitt Romney. Mitt of course flips and flops on this, but he has decided that he can have things both ways: in Massachusetts it is a “penalty” if you don’t buy insurance, but Obamacare is a “tax.” Right-wing media goes one better and has pronounced it a “historic massive tax” which is complete bullshit.
All this law does is make people responsible. If you don’t have insurance now because you can’t afford it, it will be made affordable to you. If you still don’t buy it, you will be penalized, as you should be. Insured people are tired of paying your way.