It has been 221 years that the Commerce Clause has been in effect, and not once in this time has it been used to force citizens to buy a product. https://higginscompanies.com/dental/more-az-dental-insurance-information/
In my mind Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution is pretty clear. Congress has the power to regulate commerce between the states and with other countries. Essentially, Congress can impose reason on things that affect commerce, and when people sell stuff VOLUNTEERILY between the states and with other countries. Forcing one to buy Arizona health insurance isn’t a regulation, and it certainly isn’t imposing reason, it is telling you what to buy or else.
Talk about redistributing wealth, this new national health insurance law is riddled with it. Health insurance companies are now forced to limit how much they can charge folks based on age, and they can’t refuse to cover those with pre-existing conditions. Medical insurers will be forced to overcharge younger people to pay for the older enrollees. Now the young and healthy will be paying a lot more of the true cost to insure the elderly instead of the elderly paying their fair share. Limiting what a company can charge based on age is another way of redistributing income.
Why didn’t Congress simply set up a special risk pool for those with pre-existing conditions serious enough to be denied coverage in the standard health insurance market? It could be paid for with tax dollars, the 16th Amendment allows them to do so. It is pretty obvious why the Democrats wanted a mandate to force everyone to buy health insurance… to create more of a nanny state, to get and keep more people relying on the federal government. Doing so creates votes, i.e., votes for Democrats.
The real question is this: Do we want to give Congress the right to force us to buy an overpriced product from a private company so that our hard earned income can be distributed more evenly between everyone? This is exactly what the new health insurance law does.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.