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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Supreme Court Upholds the Individual Suggestion

    I've only read two or three pages of the Supreme Court Obamacare ruling, but "incoherent" is the word that dominates my reaction so far.  Congress cannot compel anyone to buy health insurance, but they can tax anyone who does not.  However, it's not really a tax, but a penalty; otherwise, the Anti-injunction Act might apply.  But it is a tax, because it's justified by Congress's power to tax.  And it's collected like a tax and paid like a tax.  But it's not really wrong if you don't buy health insurance:
 Neither the Affordable Care Act nor any other law attaches negative legal consequences to not buying health insurance, beyond requiring a payment to the IRS.  And Congress’s choice of language— stating that individuals “shall” obtain insurance or pay a “penalty”— does not require reading §5000A as punishing unlawful conduct.  
 We waited three months for this?

1 comment:

  1. Weeping, gnashing of teeth, ashes on my head and torn garments. How is it those guys get to be judges?

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