Quote of the Day for Monday, December 13th, 2010:
Judge Henry E. Hudson, from page 38 of his ruling today invalidating ObamaCare’s "individual purchase mandate" provision:
On careful review, this Court must conclude that Section 1502 of the Patient Prevention Affordable Care Act–specifically the Minimum Coverage Provision–exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.
While a provision mandating that its subjects purchase healthcare “insurance” does represent an egregious accretion of state power, and a large nail in the coffin of political liberty – and only even more so at the Federal level than it is here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts – it must be admitted that this provision was one of the few elements of the Obamacare monstrosity that could have kept its cost in tax dollars from going into orbit right out of the gate.
Actually, looking beyond the tunnel-vision view of tax revenues and public expenditures, losing this provision will probably result in slightly lower overall healthcare costs than would otherwise have been the case, even if the rest of ObamaCare stands (because of fewer people trying to “get their money’s worth” after having been required to shell out premiums or face penalties), but that is somewhat beside the point today. Congress will have an opportunity next year to re-run the ObamaCare numbers through the CBO, and if this ruling stands, it will be nearly impossible now for the administration to game the system again in order to come up with cost projections that are anything prettier than blatantly gruesome – especially if the “Doc Fix” numbers are honestly factored in this time. It’s almost time for a little fiscal truth juice in D.C.