News
NY Times | In Massachusetts, Insurance Mandate Stirs Some Dissent
Wayde Lodor is part of the 2 percent: the roughly 120,000 residents of Massachusetts who lack health insurance despite the state’s landmark 2006 law requiring almost every adult in the state to have it. He is likely to face a penalty this year, having made enough money under the state’s guidelines to afford a health plan.
Politico | 5 takeaways on health law arguments
This much is clear after Tuesday’s Supreme Court arguments: The centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law stands in real danger of being struck down.
National Journal | The Health Care Argument That Could Make Brand-New Law
Don’t be distracted by the individual mandate: The part of the health care case with the most potential to shape constitutional law will come up on Wednesday afternoon after much of the mandate hoopla has faded.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Obamacare: Costs double in two years
Two years ago, President Obama signed into law his massive 2,700-page takeover of our health care system. Those thousands of pages are full of mandates controlling exactly how patients, doctors and employers must handle health care decisions.
WSJ | A Constitutional Awakening
Tuesday's two hours of Supreme Court oral arguments on ObamaCare's individual mandate were rough-going for the government and its assertions of unlimited federal power. Several Justices are clearly taking seriously the Constitution's structural checks and balances that are intended to protect individual liberty.
Washington Times | Obamacare not an enumerated power
As the unaffordable costs of Obamacare become undeniable and government control over every aspect of American life becomes unbearable, it’s hard to find anyone willing to celebrate the law as it enters the terrible twos. Even President Obama is passing on the opportunity to use his soaring rhetoric to extoll the virtues of the law.
Washington Times | Obamacare carries too high a price in liberty
In October 2009, a reporter asked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” She responded, “Are you serious?”
CATO | Obamacare's Second Day at the Court Features Brilliant Advocacy, Cautious Optimism
Tuesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments, which focused on the individual health insurance mandate, began with pomp and ended with circumstantial evidence that the individual mandate is in constitutional jeopardy.
Blogs
Tax Foundation | Thoughts on the Health Care Case Thus Far
I've just read through the transcript of the first two days of oral argument in the health care case. Below are my impressions of each justice's questions, followed by all references to the tax power argument so far.
The American | Scalia quickly punctures the entire premise of Obamacare
Whatever the constitutionality of Obamacare’s individual mandate, today’s Supreme Court arguments immediately highlighted the policy problem with the landmark healthcare reform law.
