Obama's Health Care

There are two questions raised about health insurance. The first question raised is as follows: Does the U.S. Constitution allow the federal government to require citizens to buy nationalized health insurance? The second question raised is as follows: Can Congress require every American to buy health insurance?

The first question brings up so much more argument than the second question, because it has to do with how one may interpret the U.S. Constitution. One may think it means one thing and the other may think it means something else. The Constitution is not always black and white and easy to understand when certain issues are brought up.

No the U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government permission to require citizens to buy nationalized health insurance, because it is not an enumerated power. The enumerated powers are listed in Article I Sec. 8 of the Constitution. Not one of the powers has to do with the health of the people or pay for something, except for Clause 1 which gives the power to tax. Is this a tax? No it is not.

It could be thought of differently though. If every one was required to buy nationalized health insurance then it would be a form of taxation, which would be considered a varied health tax. It's how you see it.

The second question includes the element of "individual mandate," which would require every American to have health insurance, but the question rises if Congress can do that. There are two arguments, yes and no, but why.

The argument that Congress can do that may be easier to understand if looked at from the hospitals side of the matter. Hospitals in the U.S. are required to accept and treat everybody in the emergency room whether they have health insurance or not, whether they are able to pay or not. There are people that do not have health insurance and are not able to buy it, so for something that a regular doctor can treat, like a sinus infection or a soar throat; these people may go to the emergency room at the hospital, for something that is not an emergency, because they did not go see a regular doctor. It would also be better on the financial side of things at the hospitals, because they would be getting their payments and would not be losing money.

The argument that Congress cannot do this is also in the picture. Some may say that they do not want to be forced to pay for something when they may be already struggling to pay their other bills. Also, this arises for young adults who want to save the extra money so they go without the coverage of health insurance, because just starting to live on your own is hard when you have to pay for everything you need, the necessities, for the first time and may not even be through with college. That is if they are even going to college.