Obamacare Archives - Page 17 of 19

Arizona & 4 Other States Join 13 States Suing to Overturn Obamacare

Arizona is joining forces with seventeen other states in the lawsuit filed by Florida that seeks to overturn Obamacare. The states that will be a co-plaintiffs in Florida’s lawsuit are Indiana, Nevada, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Washington, South Dakota and Idaho. Virginia filed a separate lawsuit that also seeks to overturn Obamacare, which brings the total number of states challenging Obamacare to eighteen.

Pretending that No Law Professors Question Obamacare

I doubt that David Kopel, the author of “Pretending that No Law Professors Question Obamacare” had Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard in mind when he wrote the blog post, but when I read the post, I immediately thought of Terry Goddard. In refusing to do his job as the lawyer for the state of Arizona and sue to overturn Obamacare, the man who was never a constitutional law scholar or law professor said this in a March 29, 2010 press release:

Constitutional experts across the country have reviewed the law and the claims made in the lawsuit and have concluded that those claims are legally weak and have little chance to prevail. This conclusion is shared by many scholars on the conservative side, who see the lawsuit as much more about politics than the law.

In a March 24, 2010, press release, Mr. Goddard said:

My Office has carefully examined both the federal health care legislation and the lawsuits challenging it. Our lawyers agree with the overwhelming majority of constitutional scholars of both parties that the lawsuits have little merit and that participating in them would be a waste of scarce taxpayer dollars.

I note that in both of his press releases, the AG failed to include citations to his claims. In his post, Mr. Kopel discusses and links to a number of law professors who have stated that they believe Obamacare is unconstitutional. In fact, one of the law professors, “Ilya Shapiro has just posted an offer to debate Obamacare anywhere, anytime.” I would love for the Goldwater Institute or somebody else to pay Professor Shapiro’s expenses to fly him to Phoenix to debate Terry Goddard. I suspect, however, that former Phoenix Mayor Goddard would not agree to the debate.

See Randy Barnett’s excellent article called “Why the Personal Mandate to Buy Health Insurance Is Unprecedented and Unconstitutional” that examines in depth the constitutional issues.

P.S. The Arizona attorney general also said another reason he declined to do his job was because it would be a waste of taxpayer money. I guess the AG picks and chooses how he wants to waste taxpayers’ money. See for example his waste of taxpayers’ money in defending the Arizona fish police, aka the Board of Cosmetology. The AG is in court defending the Arizona fish police’s statewide ban of carp fish pedicures, one of Arizona’s most pressing health problems.

Arizona Legislature Passes Bill Authorizing Governor Brewer to Hire Outside Legal Counsel to Do Job Arizona’s Attorney General Will Not Do – Sue to Overturn Obamacare

The Republican controlled Arizona legislature passed a law that authorizes Governor Brewer to hire a law firm to file a lawsuit on behalf of the state to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare. Because Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard refused to do his job and represent Arizona, the legislature and Governor Brewer were forced to take action that will cost the State of Arizona more money than if the AG’s office were to handle the case.

Massachusetts Is Our Future

In selling Obamacare President Obama and the Democrats constantly pointed to Massachusetts as the shining example of government run healthcare. Massachusetts adopted universal healthcare in 2006. Time and time again the people who pushed Obamacare told us to look to Massachusetts as the promised land of government healthcare for all. Unfortunately for the citizens of Massachusetts now and the citizens of the United States in the near future, there is no promised land or pot of healthcare gold at the end of the rainbow.

Timothy P. Cahill, the Massachusetts state treasurer

[the man who pays the state’s bills and knows about its financial condition] wrote an article in the March 25, 2010, Wall St. Journal in which he says,

“As state treasurer, I can speak with authority about the Massachusetts pilot program. It has been a fiscal train wreck. The universal insurance coverage we adopted in 2006 was projected to cost taxpayers $88 million a year. However, since this program was adopted in 2006, our health-care costs have in total exceeded $4 billion. The cost of Massachusetts’ plan has blown a hole in the Commonwealth’s budget. . . . The only reason MassCare has survived is that we have been repeatedly bailed out by the federal government. But that raises the question: Who will bail America out if we implement a similar program?”

Read the red text in bold again and stop and think about the significance of those words. The Massachusetts politicians who sold the state on MassCare said the program would cost taxpayers $88 million a year. Four years later the actual cost is $4 billion. The simpletons who created and sold MassCare were not mistaken by a mere 5%, 25% or even 100%. They were off by 4,500%. The annual cost is $3,972,000,000 more than the brain trust told the state it would cost. Of course nobody should blame the legislative idiots who passed MassCare. None of them had any experience in creating a state healthcare system so how could they possibly know important facts like how much would it cost and would it actually work. Why would any intelligent person believe estimates given by somebody without any experience estimating the cost of a new healthcare system with no operating history.

Calorie Data to Be Posted at Most Chains

New York Times: “Buried deep in the health care legislation that President Obama signed on Tuesday is a new requirement that will affect any American who walks into a McDonald’s, Starbucks or Burger King. Every big restaurant chain in the nation will now be required to put calorie information on their menus and drive-through signs.”

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