Could Health Care Reform Hurt Your Civil Rights?
Posted on February 4th, 2010
The current version of health care reform legislation is so roiled in controversy that it’s not clear it will be passed any time soon. However, if it is passed, one of its most controversial aspects – mandatory purchase of health insurance – will become law. For many people, this new requirement is considered to be a violation of their civil rights. Health insurance rates have been rising and health care spending is not expected to slow down anytime soon.
America’s current health care system is the most expensive in the world, even while millions (between 30 and 46, according to the Office of Management and Budget) of citizens have no health insurance. Their lack of insurance is considered to be a big part of the inefficiencies in the current health care system: no health insurance makes people less inclined to engage in preventative care, which results in very expensive emergency room visits for problems that went much further than they ever needed to.
(Read about the effect of the bill for seniors and young adults)
Legislation is Supposed To Help Healthcare
To remedy this structural inefficiency, Congress is proposing legislation that would force people to get health insurance or end up paying a fine. This would be the first time in American history that health insurance is required of all taxpaying adults. People who don’t buy health insurance would be subject to a $1,500 penalty. The legislation has its supporters and its detractors. (Read about how a Republican could totally change the game)
Supporters of mandatory health insurance compare it to being required to participate in Social Security, or have car insurance. People who can’t afford to buy their own health insurance would get government subsidies. This includes both the working poor and the unemployed (the latter currently totaling 15,000,000, according to the Department of Labor).
The Civil Rights Problems with the Healthcare Bill
Detractors, however, claim that forcing people to buy health insurance is an unconstitutional government intrusion into Americans’ lives, and one that is not authorized by the Constitution.
Constitutional scholars are just as divided because comparable legislation is so rare. At the core of the debate is the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which regulates interstate commerce. Those who think mandatory health insurance is constitutional point to the fact that health care is an enormous part of our economy and hence falls under the Clause’s purview. Detractors argue that that’s too liberal of an interpretation, and ask why, under that logic, the government “couldn’t mandate daily calisthenics” or anything that it wanted.
Passage of health care reform may be unclear right now, but legal challenges to mandatory health insurance are almost guaranteed to follow should the bill become law.
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