Cross-posted at The Hartford Courant
The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments this week about the constitutionality of Obamacare. Frankly, I lost interest months ago when the president chickened out on the single payer issue, but let’s face it.
Half a health care reform is better than nothing.
And that’s what conservative Republicans want…nothing…nada…no health care reform. They want a patchwork system to leave it up to the states and that won’t work. Massachusetts is the first state in the country with comprehensive universal health care. Everybody has to buy coverage…thank you moderate Mitt Romney…but Massachusetts hospitals near other states without universal health care like New Hampshire are plagued by uninsured folks crowding the emergency rooms looking for care.
I don’t know if the Supremes will give Obamacare their stamp of constitutional approval, or not. Appellate courts have already said it’s constitutional and some of them are dominated by conservatives. There is already a mandate of sorts. Governments force us to buy car insurance if we want to drive a car on the streets of America.
But in the end, nobody knows how it will turn out. This court is so political and wrongheaded, you never know what’s going to happen. In the end, they may decide that an insurance policy is a human being.
Conservative Republicans prefer a dog-eat-dog world, where people have to compete for basic rights like health care. It reminds me of a story that’s playing right now at a local movie theater near you.
Yes… it’s a contest and the Republicans are sharpening their arrows for the last round of The Health Care Games.
