Health Care and the Constitution

(In my posting last night I said that I was going to do a posting that included a few topics, however, as I was writing this section I realized that to do so would make the posting way too long. I decided to post this section on its own after all)

First let me say that I am not going to express an opinion about the lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General from several states challenging the constitutionality of the legislation. And, I’m not going to talk about what is right or wrong with it, been down that road a couple of times. What I am going to say is that I would have expected the Administration to do a better job of selling the legislation and making a better defense of its legitimacy. They had a great opportunity to argue the legality under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and never took advantage; I also thought they might have after one of the Vice President’s gaffs.

I’ve written about how I felt that the President’s advisors ran a great campaign, but haven’t adjusted from campaigning to governing and should be replaced. This entire Healthcare Reform/ Overhaul (whatever the catch phrase of the week is) proves again that they are too set in on a course of action and aren’t able to adjust to circumstances, and need to be replaced.

Think back to last year, what happened during the time that Healthcare was going on in Congress? A year ago there was the first recorded human death from H1N1 (“swine”) flu. As the year progressed H1N1 spread throughout the world and became an epidemic, then pandemic. I told a friend back then that if I was in the Administration I’d use H1N1 to justify the need for and legitimacy of the legislation.

I would have argued that Healthcare was needed, and should be enacted because of the potential impact on the U.S. economy. Because of the amount of travel, and easy accessibility of travel, it is extremely easy for an infected person to travel throughout the country (and world). Many of the local economies are dependent on tourist and business travel. A sick person traveling to a metropolitan area, especially one dependent on travel/ tourist industry, could have a devastating impact on that local economy. This would then spread to the state and national economy. Mandatory Health Care legislation is necessary to ensure that citizens have the access and ability to receive quality care when they are sick, which in turn would help to minimize the impact on the economy from an epidemic or pandemic like H1N1.

I imagine that some of you are reading this and thinking “Oh come on, that’s a real stretch!” Do you think I’ve lost grasp of reality, or am REALLY “grasping at straws” to justify Health Care. If you are one of those that think so, I have two words to say to you, Roscoe Filburn. There have been a number of Supreme Court cases that have impacted the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The Roscoe Filburn I am referring to is from the U.S. Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn.

Rather than recounting for you a case history, let me share with you a general description of the case from a Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In his book The Supreme Court, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, gave a general description of the case as this; (pgs 141-142) “Roscoe Filburn was an Ohio farmer who raised a small amount of wheat but never sold any of it. he used the wheat for feed and seed on his own farm.” He continued “Justice Jackson, writing for the Court, explained that had Filburn not used the wheat himself, he would have had to buy wheat from some other producer who was “in commerce.” However indirect, his consumption of his own wheat had an effect on commerce, and could be regulated by Congress.”

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano also discusses this case in his book The CONSTITUTION in EXILE (How the Federal Government has SEIZED POWER by REWRITING the SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND).

If the actions of a farmer, growing 23 acres of wheat (Roscoe Filburn), when the law said he could only grow 11.1 acres, for use and consumption on his property can be ruled illegal because had he not grown the wheat he would have had to purchase it from someone else, do you really believe that an argument can’t be made for the possible impact on commerce if someone without Health Insurance became ill with H1N1? Also, during this time Vice President Biden said in an interview that he would, and had, told members of his family and friends not to travel in confined spaces because of the possibility of getting sick.

We’ll see what arguments the U.S. Government makes in response to the lawsuit filed by several states. However, this should never have become the major mess that it has, having advisors with experience on a federal level and the willingness to listen and work with people could have helped lesson the severity of the negative response to this legislation (provided the person their advising is willing to listen to them).


THAT’S MY OPINION, WHAT’S YOURS