US Appeals Court: Obamacare is Constitutional
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November 10, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
President Obama’s most significant piece of domestic legislation has been upheld as constitutional by a federal appeals court in Washington.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress in March 2010, and signed into law by President Obama soon after. Amongst the act’s provisions is the extension of health insurance to over 15 million lower paid Americans. It also forbids insurance companies to increase prices based on a patient’s medical history.
The act is seen by many as a defining feature of the Obama presidency, given that it represents one of the most concerted efforts to overhaul America’s much maligned healthcare system.
“This is not only about the cost of our healthcare but the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, about whether we’re still a nation that gives its citizens a chance to reach their dreams,” said the president in 2010.
Nevertheless, its drafting and introduction mobilised some of Mr Obama’s fiercest opposition in Conservative America. The emergence of the Tea Party onto the national scene in 2009 corresponded with plans to introduce the bill.
Such opposition manifested in the questioning of whether or not an act which obligated most people to buy health insurance, or else pay a tax penalty, is constitutional.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, a majority of Judges on the Appeals Court Panel for the District of Columbia rejected the argument that restricted freedom equates to unconstitutionality.
“It certainly is an encroachment of individual liberty,” wrote Judge Laurence Silberman, “but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race.”
The ruling upholds an earlier decision by a lower court.
Nonetheless, the organisation which filed the suit has vowed to continue its challenge through other legal avenues.
“We still remain confident that Obamacare and the individual mandate, which forces Americans to purchase health insurance, is the wrong prescription for America and ultimately will be struck down by the US Supreme Court,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
Twenty seven out of America’s 50 states have challenged the act as an encroachment by the federal government into an area in which it has no constitutional authority. In August, a court in Atlanta decided that Washington had gone beyond its statutory limitations by introducing the law. The Obama Administration has requested a review of this decision by the Supreme Court.
By Dermot Tobin
[Image courtesy of wstera2]
