Myth: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), is a Constitutionally allowed and will give free health care to everyone, it will be better than the current health care most Americans currently have at no cost to the nation.
Truth: The health care industry will only improve as it is shaped by competition and not by unconstitutional government over-regulation.
Now that Obamacare has been enacted and America is finding out what is in this mega-law, it is becoming clear this act amounts to a massive expansion of federal government which will bring with it all the massive costs and inefficiencies that are the trademark of centralized government.
The PPACA is unconstitutional for many reasons. The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to be involved in the health care industry in a regulatory capacity. The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to force people to buy health care or face a penalty. The Commerce Clause power “to regulate commerce… among the several states” was designed to deprive states of their power under the Articles of Incorporation to erect trade barriers to commerce among the several states. It accomplished this by giving Congress the exclusive power over interstate sales and transport of goods (subject to the requirement that its regulations be both “necessary and proper”). It did not reach activities that were neither commerce, nor interstate. The business of providing health insurance is now an entirely intrastate activity.
The Obama administration has also claimed that, if the “individual mandate” is found to violate the commerce clause, the authority for the “individual mandate” can be found in congresses taxing power. There again, however, the enumerated power to tax is only that “necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” So we return to the previous issue: What enumerated end or object is Congress spending money to accomplish?
