NOT ONLY THAT the way they got that bill pass is completely unethical and illegal!!

Remember the bill that members of Congress "needed to pass so they could read its contents?" It features a tax penalty if Americans forgo purchasing health insurance under the individual mandate. The big problem that most Americans are unaware of ?The Obamacare tax was created in the Senate, a violation of the Origination Clause of the United States Constitution, which says that all revenue raising bills must start in the House of Representatives.

What shell game did the architects of Obamacare employ? ? The Senate took a bill that had passed the House --the Service Members Home Ownership Act of 2009-- and removed every single word. In the empty shell, Obamacare supporters hatched the health care bill, with more than 2,000 pages of provisions, programs, mandates, and what we now know are taxes.

High Court Majority Deems Penalty a "Tax"
PLF's Sissel lawsuit, filed in July of 2010, was on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the challenge to Obamacare from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and 26 states, in NFIB v. Sebelius. As initially filed, PLF's Sissel lawsuit targeted Obamacare's individual mandate to buy health insurance as a violation of the Constitution's Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8).

The Supreme Court agreed with this position, in the NFIB ruling last June. However, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by four justices, characterized the Affordable Care Act's charge as a federal "tax," because it requires a payment to the federal government from people who decide not to buy health insurance.

Last year after the Supreme Court's ruling, PLF attorneys amended our original lawsuit to focus on this critical constitutional issue.










http://www.pacificlegal.org/EnlistNow

Healthcare is free for all in the UK under our NHS. Why couldn't they introduce something similar in the US? This Obamacare bill you have stinks? People being fined if they don't have cover? What about the people who can't afford it ? I honestly don't know why you Americans call him President? Seems he's more like a Dictator these days?

ur healthcare is covered by taxes,, our citizens don't want to be 'forced' through taxes to look after others

the 'fines' are based upon the opinion that those fined CAN afford it,,,

those who cant afford healthcare have options for our own government tax supported healthcare called medicare and Medicaid

we cant have a dictator, our government is run by majority and consists of hundreds,,, unless the president uses veto, which this one does historically little of,,,

its interesting as an argument though

it will be interesting to see how far it gets and how it is ruled upon

there is plenty of precedent for substituting the language of a bill this way,, its called a 'shell bill'

but the outcome will be interesting to watch,,,

I don't care what they call it. It's criminal. You write a bill, get it passed, then change It? What kind of logical sense is that?

I can't believe anything like that would be allowed.

Just bend over while our government screws us.

Nothing is free.

I don't call him president of America. He is just the corporate president of the corporation of the United States of America.

The United States of America is NOT A COUNTRY. Its a corporation.

America is a country.

Obamacare has so many issues ... here are a few.

Obama is not a king and the president does not have the power to change the law at will. The unconstitutionality of his actions are going to court.

Obama has released many of his political supporters from the bill's "taxes" as political favors. Unions are the best example. This action will go to court also.

Obama has exempted congress from the tax provisions of the bill to get support. This provision will go to court.

Obama has changed implementation dates to after the next election to prevent his political allies (Democrats) from taking heat. I don't know if this action will go to court or not but it could backfire on the Democrats.

Obama has "created law by decree!" by telling the insurance companies various provisions can be law at this time or not. This action will create great losses for which they will want reimbursement and the House has not authorized funds for this action, which is against the Constitution.

This goes on forever!

They passed it because they knew they couldn't get it back through Congress the 2nd time, so they took what they could get. It's clearly an imperfect law, but it does answer some issues. Specifically it reduces the number of uninsured Americans and helps people get affordable insurance in spite of pre-existing conditions. Of course, Republicans are completely against it, but they've go no real answers to those problems, either.

The best, most elegant solution would be simply to open up Medicare to all Americans. If they did that, then we could repeal Obamacare.

http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section18115&num=0&edition=prelim

§18115. Freedom not to participate in Federal health insurance programs

No individual, company, business, nonprofit entity, or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall be required to participate in any Federal health insurance program created under this Act (or any amendments made by this Act), or in any Federal health insurance program expanded by this Act (or any such amendments), and there shall be no penalty or fine imposed upon any such issuer for choosing not to participate in such programs.

(Pub. L. 111–148, title I, §1555, Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 260.)

How do you figure that when the number of uninsured and cancelled outnumber the previously uninsured now?

Over 8 million cancelled policies and just over 1 million signed on to the new exchanges.

And with many opting for medicaid rather than the different unaffordable, high deductable, and newly imposed taxes (16 now known) on the "paid" plans, how will it be funded without a bailout of the insurance companies in the future..... which just like the auto industry and the bank bailouts, will hit everyone with even more taxation.

And they thought the Egyptians knew how to build pyramids!

Makes old Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay look like choir boys! But then the gov't does hate competition

The best, most elegant solution would be simply to open up Medicare to all Americans. If they did that, then we could repeal Obamacare.

THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!

Motimer,what? Repeal Obamacare? I can't believe what you are saying now? And now you call it "Obamacare" not ACA act like before. You said that it will be wonderful.
It's not an imperfect law, it's a TAX. Most people I talk to, like me, will not participate. Single payer is what you liberals want so try to make it a part of medicare so you can screw that up to?
Mortimer, what you can't understand is that more government is not the answer to all problems.

That Guy must be in the middle of an Epiphany of some sorts!

Motimer will be ok, as soon as he stops drinking the kool-aid.

I fail to see where this would be much better. More streamlined, yes. But the best solution? No. Medicare and Medicaid programs are a huge part of our healthcare crisis. They are billing nightmares, often falling behind in payments by YEARS, and many times failing to pay their bill altogether. In little old maine, alone, these two programs failed to pay hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars. Both programs also have a ton of red tape attached.

I feel that when dealing with U.S. healthcare our goals have shifted from providing everyone access to healthcare, and gravitated towards just increasing the number of insured citizens. First goal was productive, 2nd goal is not. We must also remind ourselves, that insurance is another big part of our issue.

I know i will get flak from this, but maybe we should looking into expanding our free clinics, or the clinics in which payments are income-based. Start small (one or two hospitals), then expand. Start directing medicaid money into the system. Then start directing medicare money into the system. Allow private facilities to remain untouched. This would weed out MOUNTAINS of red tape. Perhaps the free market may actually play the role of quality control for both systems (The government and private). No forced insurance, and if done right, in increments, there shouldn't be tax hikes. Just a thought... (Note: I realize the government rarely does things correctly)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland

One solution that I read about was, people pay monthly payments directly to the to the hospital or to the doctor instead of to the insurance company. Or, where I work, I have a low cost catastrophic insurance with a $2000 deductible. Routine doctor visits are paid from a health fund that we contribute to.
There are a lot of better ways to do it.

That sounds good. Eliminate Insurance altogether and just make payments to a collective medical fund that pays the doctors directly.

This would help immensely as it weeds out the extra costs of using insurance.