DISPUTES

“I want jelly beans.”
“They are just flavored sugar.”
“I want jelly beans!!”
“Fruit is healthier.”
“Ok, I want fruit-flavored jelly beans.”

While listening to the argumentation during the last several days before the Supreme Court on whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act passes muster under the United States Constitution, I ended up somewhat staggered. Not having read the Act itself or the reams of underlying law, court cases, and economic studies, I am not surprised by my lack of comprehension. Nevertheless, I was awed with the ping-pong like dialgue. Questions were hardly answered when new and even more difficult questions were posed. What does it all mean?

Well, one side seemed to argue that the federal government is only allowed to require people to buy stuff pursuant to specific Constitutional authority. They essentially argue that it just ain’t right to force people to buy health insurance irrespective of the public benefit because America is founded on individual liberties. The other side argues that the Federal government has a duty to advance commerce and protect its citizenry even to the point of requiring that we purchase health care insurance. They essentially argue that citizens are sometimes called upon to sacrifice individual rights for the public good.

I was also impressed with the endless examples, analogies, and hypothetical situations contrived to prove or disprove points of view. What about social security? Can the federal government force us to obtain inoculations if we were to be visited by a plague? What about automobile anti-pollution devices? What’s to stop Congress from making us eat broccoli, buy automobiles, or purchase twelve loaves of bread every week to stimulate the economy?

That is when I really began to get dizzy.

“Nobody is going to make me stock my pantry with bread.”
“I sure want everyone inoculated against a plague.”
“The Feds can’t really stuff me full of broccoli, can they?”
“I like the social security scheme.”
“Could bikes be substituted for cars?”
“Yikes.”

At the end of the day, I guess the Constitution will mean whatever the nine justices declare. For me, I just know that if the Health Care Act is declared unconstitutional, my kids will not be covered by my policy as they reach their twenty-first birthdays. Lucky the federal government requires that hospitals maintain free access to their emergency rooms…for now.