Everyone’s Opposed to ObamaCare. Even Obama!

I have been skeptical of the lawsuits arising in many states against the recently passed healthcare reform. I remain so. However, as the Persians said of the Athenian fleet at Salamis: yeah, they're pretty small boats. But damn, there are a lot of them! From the Washington Post:

Efforts to block a key provision of the new health-care overhaul law are underway in 33 states, as a growing roster of mostly Republican officials have mounted legal and legislative challenges to an eventual requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty tax.

This Friday, seven more states will formally join a lawsuit originally filed by Florida and 12 other states in late March.

Thirty-three states is a lot of states. The significance of this is that opposition is opening up along all the constitutional fronts. Voter opposition has been expressed in almost every election held this year. U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan was defeated soundly in a West Virginia Democratic Primary by a conservative Democrat. The main issue was his vote on healthcare.

Another front is opposition by state governments. This is taking three forms. One is the joint lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandate on individual health insurance and the fiscal burden that the law places on states. Another is state legislation that intentionally contradicts the federal law in order to generate court cases. The third is initiatives that "repeal" the individual mandate.

I am skeptical about all of this. The repeal of federal law by state initiative amounts to nullification, and that offend the very heart of the U.S. Constitution. Provoking lawsuits by legislation contradicting the healthcare law is standard procedure, as is a direct challenge to the law's constitutionality in court. What bothers me about that is that I don't think the Courts are the proper place to decide healthcare policy.

However, and it's a big honkin' however, all of this builds enormous pressure against the law and that strengthens its foes in Congress in a big way. That's enough of a strategic advantage to justify the whole package.

But if all this weren't enough, the Obama Administration is considering joining the opposition! From Fox News:

The Obama administration threatened to veto parts of its own health care bill after budget scorekeepers found that the package would add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending.

The President kept telling us that healthcare reform would reduce the burden of healthcare spending on the federal budget. The Congressional Budget Office supported this claim until after the bill was passed. Now it concedes that the legislation will result in an increase in healthcare spending by about $115 dollars. That will push the bill over the magic "one trillion" that the President promised us was the limit.

No honest and rational person really believed that this legislation would lower costs. But I hadn't expected that the Obama Administration would join 33 states to oppose key provisions of ObamaCare. I have never seen anything like this. Say what you want about the Democrat's adventure in European healthcare land. It is still the greatest show on earth.

Comments

[Stan Gibilisco]

A president who might veto parts of his own brainchild! I gotta like Mr. Obama for that. He's quite a guy.

I still don't care for the behavior of the current administration in regards to the budget and spending.

Last night Dick Morris predicted, in effect, that the November elections will constitute a blowout of unprecedented proportions. We'll see!

As for cheap medical insurance, that's great -- as long as the company comes through when you need it. Let the buyer beware.

[duggersd]

Now that it has been shown the numbers were way off when this was passed, will Senator Johnson admit he made a mistake in supporting this monstrosity and be willing to vote to repeal it?

[Lynn]

Will Johnson admit he make a mistake in voting for this???? I'm falling off my chair laughing so hard!

This entire thing is a fiasco and a good lesson in gov't corruption and thuggery. Hey, Washington, the people are awake even if you aren't!

[BillW]

This makes Obama the worst kind of Chicago politician. Nothing worse than a politician who won't stay bought after he has been paid.

[duggersd]

I hope you did not get hurt, Lynn.

[BillW]

"the Persians said of the Athenian fleet at Salamis: yeah, they're pretty small boats. But damn, there are a lot of them!"

Actually the Persians had roughly 1,200 boats aganst a fleet of 200 or so for the Greeks at Salamis, and the boats were pretty comparable in size and design. The huge storm after the first day leveled the field a bit, but the Greeks were heavily outnumbered all along.

More likely it was a Greek who said, "But damn, there are a lot of them!"

[KB]

BillW: Okay, trying to confuse me with facts, are you? You are right, of course. But the Athenians were masters of strategy, and in the narrow straights I am guessing that the Persians thought there were way damn too many Greek ships. Thanks for keeping me honest.

[BillW]

Any time Ken. Most of the important stuff goes way over my head, but I am hell on useless trivia.

[JimB]

Of course, of the people who oppose Obamacare, 10% to 15% oppose it because they wanted single payer or a public option, not because they're siding with Republicans. Unlike Republicans, who believe Obamacare goes too far, there are those who oppose Obamacare because they feel it doesn't go far enough.