Conservative Supreme Court justices question health care law This artist rendering shows Paul Clement speaks in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, mlb jerseys Tuesday, March 27, 2012, as the court continued hearing arguments on the health care law signed by President Barack Obama. Justices, seated from left are, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito and Elana Kagan. (AP Photo/)WASHINGTON Sharp questioning by the Supreme moncler sweater women Court s conservative justices cast serious doubt Tuesday on the survival of the individual insurance requirement at the heart of President Barack Obama s historic health care overhaul. Arguments at the high court focused on whether the mandate for virtually every American to have insurance "is a step beyond what our cases allow," in the words of Justice Anthony Kennedy. But Kennedy, who is often the swing vote on cases that divide the justices along ideological lines, also said moncler lissy he recognized the magnitude of the nation s health care problem and seemed to suggest that Fashion moncler Slipper brwon Cow Leather it would require a comprehensive solution. He and Chief Justice John Roberts emerged as the seemingly pivotal votes in the court s decision, due in June in the midst of a presidential election campaign that has focused in part on the new law. Republican candidates are strongly opposed. Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito appeared likely to join with Justice Clarence Thomas to vote to strike down the key provision of the overhaul. The four Democratic appointees seemed ready to vote to uphold it. The congressional requirement to buy health care insurance is the linchpin of the law s aim to get medical insurance to an additional 30 million people, at a reasonable cost to private insurers and state governments. Virtually every American will be affected by the court s decision on the law s constitutionality. And if so, could other mandates to buy broccoli, burial insurance and cellphones, for example be far behind? "Purchase insurance in this case, something else in the next case," moncler jackets for sale Roberts said. "If the government can do this, what else can it not do?" Scalia asked. citizens. At another point, however, he also acknowledged the complexity of resolving the issue of paying for America s health care needs. "I think it is true that if most questions in life are matters of degree. the young person who is uninsured is uniquely proximately very close to affecting the rates of insurance and the costs of providing medical care in a way that is not true in other industries. That s my concern in the case," Kennedy said. Roberts also Moncler Womens goose jackets ingres Hooded Belt black spoke about the uniqueness of health care, which almost everyone uses at some point. "Everybody is in this market, so that makes it very different than the market for cars or the other hypotheticals that you came up with, and all they re regulating is how you pay for it," Roberts said, paraphrasing the government s argument. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. sought to assure the court that the insurance mandate in the Patient moncler top Protection and Affordable Care Act that Obama signed into law two years ago is a key part of the law s goal of reaching many of the more than 40 million people who don t have health insurance through their employers, don t qualify for government aid and cannot afford to buy coverage on their own. Indeed, the law envisions that insurers will be able to accommodate older and sicker people without facing financial ruin because the insurance requirement will provide insurance companies with more premiums moncler mens wear from healthy people to cover their increased costs of care Paul Clement, a predecessor of Verrilli s who is representing Florida and 25 other states in challenging the law, called the mandate "an unprecedented effort by Congress." He said the requirement would force people, especially those who are young and healthy, to buy a product they don t want. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she found the debate over health care similar to an earlier age s debate about the Social Security retirement system. How could Congress be able to compel younger workers to contribute Moncler down jacket Men Hooded fur collar red to Social Security, but be limited in its ability to address health care? she wondered. Does it to have to be "a government takeover"? she asked. Clement acknowledged that a system of national health insurance might well be constitutional. Earlier, Scalia repeatedly pointed out that the federal government s powers are limited by the Constitution, with the rest left to the states and the people. "The argument there is that the people were left to decide whether to buy health insurance," Scalia said. Scalia and Roberts noted that the health care overhaul law would make people get insurance for things they may not need, like heart transplants or pregnancy services. "You can t say that everybody is going to participate in substance abuse services," Roberts said. On the other hand, Ginsburg said, "The people who don t participate in this market are making it more expensive for those who do."

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Conservative vs On Sunday, nfl jerseys Charlotte Allen, who describes herself as a conservative somewhere to the right of Pedro the Cruel, and Diana Wagman, a pacifist, vegetarian, Prius driving, NPR listening liberal, explained in separate Opinion articles why they have trouble talking to people with different political views. ("Liberals vs. conservatives," "Conservatives vs. liberals.") But we asked them to try, conducting an exchange of emails on the issues of gay marriage and healthcare. Here is their correspondence on healthcare. Sunday, we featured their exchanges on gay marriage. Allen to Diana Wagman: The most crucial issue in the November bar none, is repealing "Obamacare." For starters, individual mandate that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance policies is probably unconstitutional, and it certain to be rendered pointlessly expensive by all the medical and quasi medical bells and whistles shoved into moncler jacket for women the 2,000 page "affordable care" act by various advocacy groups. Under Obamacare we the public have to pay 100% of women contraceptive costs, even though the vast majority of Americans can possibly need women contraceptives (all males, nearly all females younger than 15 and older than 40, plus everyone who either doesn believe in birth control or finds it creepy to stuff your body with powerful hormones for 25 years). Birth control pills are already cheap at about $30 a month, $5 more than the cost of a pedicure. They free to many poor and near poor women. There also all the other therapeutic pork. Under Obamacare we got to pay for "mental health" counseling for those who are feeling blue, and drug and alcohol counseling for those who can stay off blow and juice. We almost had to pay (until the Health and Human Services Department rescinded its rule) for "end of life" counseling designed to ease old folks into early graves. We got to pay for "community health centers," some of which will spend taxpayer dollars to treat illegal immigrants no questions asked, and others of which will moncler jacket sale men spend more taxpayer dollars to combat "obesity" (my no cost advice to the obese: Quit huffing junk food and get some exercise). registered nurses paid registered nurses salaries to drop by the homes of welfare mothers and tell them to please change their babies diapers every now and then and not hit them when they cry. Yes, we desperately need healthcare reform in America. But we need to go back to square one and start over. Obamacare was a measure that nobody really wanted. It was a Senate compromise measure that was supposed to go back to the House for even more compromises until Scott Brown was elected Massachusetts senator in late 2009, making possible a likely Republican filibuster, so the House hastily turned the Senate bill into law under a rules finagle. We need to devise a way, independently of the current employment based model, people to buy cheap, individually tailored insurance that covers genuine health emergencies sans politics driven Christmas trees of politics driven goodies, and not to have to worry via a reinsurance setup? about coverage of preexisting conditions when moncler boston they change jobs. to Allen: Let first begin with a basic premise: that all Americans should have affordable healthcare.

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