CNN's Jeffrey Toobin is extremely Cocky however he's right about the Health Care Law. The Individual Mandate makes it Unconstitutional.
Here's why.
Its highly possible that come June the SCOTUS will strike down Pres. Obama's Affordable Health Care Act.
NOT because its a Bad Law because the Affordable Health Care Act is in all actuality a really Good Universal Law.
For example the Affordable Health Care Act prevents Health Insurers from Denying Coverage to Citizens with Pre-Existing Medical Conditions & allows Children to remain on their Parent's Health Insurance plans until the age of 26.
The Law also requires States to provide more Medicaid/ Medicare Coverage & Quality Patient Care for Low Income & Elderly Citizens.
i.e., Medicaid Expansion.
However....
Just because a Law is Good does not mean it is Constitutional.
And SCOTUS Justices are Legally Bound to rule solely based on the U.S. Constitution & Similar Federal Case Law.
According to the Preamble & U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, Health Care is in fact a Basic Human Right but Congress does NOT have the Broad Legal Authority to Mandate each Individual Citizen in America to take Personal Responsibility for their Own Health Care Insurance via a TAX.
That's Right!
The Individual Mandate is a TAX!
According to the 16th Amendment Congress does have the Legal Authority to TAX but it Can't use its Taxing Authority to Penalize American Citizens for NOT Purchasing Health Care Insurance.
If Pres. Obama had included a Public Option or Single Payer Option, his Affordable Health Care would be probably be very hard for the SCOTUS to strike down.
But in the "Spirit of Bi-Partisanship" he allowed 2 GOP Senators, (Olympia Snowe & Susan Collins), to talk him into excluding a Public Option & Single Payer in exchange for the Individual Mandate.
Bad Political Move!
Olympia Snowe & Susan Collins have both served in Congress much Longer than Pres. Obama.
They're Slick Politicians who knew exactly what they were doing!
Requesting that Pres. Obama exclude a Public Option & Single Payer in exchange for the Individual Mandate was Politically Strategic & Destructive for the Affordable Health Care Law because Snowe & Collins knew a Mandate would make this Law Unconstitutional.
A Shrewd, Dirty Political Move pulled by 2 Seasoned, Female, GOP Senators!
Now Suddenly two years later, Senator Olympia Snowe claims she was "against the Individual Mandate".
Please STOP Lying Olympia!
If you were against the Individual Mandate then why did you Vote "YES" on passage of the Health Care Law?
Almost immediately After the Affordable Health Care Law was Authorized by Congress, Pres. Obama's Administration started granting Waivers to Certain Large Corporations giving them Legal Permission to Opt-Out of Providing Health Care Insurance to their Employees without being Penalized.
This Action Hurt the Law's Viability even more so because granting Corporations Waivers to Opt-Out of the Law gave the Appearance of Proprietorship or Enforcement of the Law based on Economic Status.
Is it Fair to force Smaller, Less Profitable Companies to provide Health Care Insurance for their Employees, while allowing Larger, More Profitable Companies to Opt-Out?
Thus the valid concerns mentioned in this post about Pres. Obama's Health Care Law, means the Probability of this law being struck down by the High Court remains a very likely possibility.
Its not yet clear if the Affordable Health Care Act can stand alone without the Individual Mandate.
I personally believe the Law can Survive without the Individual Mandate but only with a Public Option.
Its also not clear if the entire Affordable Health Care Act will be struck down or just the Individual Mandate.
What is clear is that although the Affordable Health Care Law is a good law, Congress may have overstepped its Broad Legal Authority by Including a New Tax as a Penalty within this Law.
Stay Tuned.
SCOTUS Justices will release their decision & Opinions on the Health Care Law Challenge case in June of this year.
Toobin: 'This Law Looks Like It's Going To Be Struck Down'
CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin, following Supreme Court arguments on President Obama's health care law, said on CNN that based on what he heard inside the Court, things didn't look good for proponents of the law.
"This was a train wreck for the Obama administration," he said. "This law looks like it's going to be struck down. I'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong... if I had to bet today I would bet that this court is going to strike down the individual mandate."
Toobin added that he felt that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli simply wasn't prepared for the conservative justices.
"I don't know why he had a bad day," he said. "He is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. He was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices."
Toobin also said he thought Justice Kennedy, the perennial swing vote, was a "lost cause" for supporters of the health care reform law.
Sources: CNN, Fox News, TPM, Youtube
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