Obamacare just committed suicide before the SCOTUS

EMTALA was part of COBRA passed under the Reagan administration in 1986. It requires all people be treated in ERs until stabilized. It is illegal to even ask someone about insurance until you have stabilized them. It was intended to be just the beginning as we were to have universal healthcare. Corruption and lobbyist have prevented that. Thus, many hospitals with ERs are having trouble staying in business. The uninsured use ERs for everything like there doctors office and clinic all in one. The waiste and cost to this country is in the billions yearly. In theory if these uninsured had health insurance they could then walk into clinics and make doctor appts including preventative care. The mandate would correct this problem and it is necessary. The mandate was a Republican idea. This is all politics and it is awful. If there is hell people like Orin Hatch are going there. You can stand your ground on theories of freedom and liberty and you are spiting your own face. The only other option is to repeal EMTALA and allow hospitals to refuse treatment based on insurance status. I swear to [uck fay]ing g-d foxnews and its followers would rather watch this country burn then give Obama any credit.

 

And Cotton the hospitals are run by people they are required to pay for the uninsured's treatment as are tax payers. You are required to pay taxes. This is a [uck fay]ing tax dude it is ok to be wrong you have been brainwashed step out of the bubble....I am wrong everyday of my life. I was once one of the brainwashed but now I am found...

 

Chuckling at people taking advantage of free preventative healthcare.

 

Jew, did the government even argue what you're arguing? I was under the impression that this comes down to how far Congress can go under the Commerce Clause.

 

Yes, seems very different to me.

 

That would be an interesting experiment to run in some county somewhere, wouldn't it? How many of the poor would actually use preventative care if free? I hypothesize, "not enough" in terms of curbing the expense of healthcare long-term. Could be wrong, but I doubt it.

 

People do not value what they don't pay for.

 

Preventative care would fail due to individuals having to be responsible for their actions and habits.

 

So true

 

Like me, you probably only believe this because you have been brainwashed by foxnews.

 

Probably wont use more preventative care, but they sure as hell are far likely to go to the doctor with a mild cold, or a sprained ankle, or a cut, then they are under the current systemm. No way the cost doesn't go up significantly for those of us already paying.

 

yes hospitals are subsidized by the people with insurance, but the old farts at my work are subsidized by me as well. I pay more than i should, they pay less. Is this a tax too?

 

But remember that if your lucky, one day you will be one of the "oldfarts". It works both ways.

 

It does not look like a tax to me. If the bill imposed a tax whose revenues would be used to fund a program that provided healthcare for the uninsured, I do not think there would be questions of Constitutionality. Congress' power to tax has pretty clear Constitutional basis.

This mandate instead requires private individuals to purchase something under penalty of law. That doesn't sound like the taxes I know.

 

Had they left the public option in the bill, the tax argument might have worked. I think it fails horribly now.