Quote:
Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla
For starters, you show me where in the Constitution you're going to find authority for Congress to tell the citizenry where they are going to spend their moneys. And if you reply "Commerce Clause," I'm going to say, "Oh really?"
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Start with the taxing powers of Congress:
Article I, Section 8:
The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
For the common defense AND the general welfare.
Now you can argue that affordable and accessible health care for all (or most) Americans is not in the general welfare of the US and I would disagree.
And yes, the Commerce Clause which the Courts have interpreted to go beyond simply interstate commerce (or economic activity).
The precedents are numerous, including recent examples in which conservatives like Scalia broadly interpreted the commerce clause.
Historically, George Washington and Congress in 1790 enacted the first health care mandate.
In 1790, Congress (many of the same founding fathers who wrote the Constitution) enacted a law requiring ships to carry medical supplies and provide health care for crew.
In 1798, those same Founding Fathers enacted the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen which created the U.S. Public health Service as well as the Marine Hospital Services (MHS).
The law forced every merchant mariner to pay 20 cents a month into a fund to pay for their medical care. This was one of the first direct taxes on individual citizens.
Government mandates for health care are nothing new.