New health-care law constitutional, federal judge rules

[DearAbby]

A federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday that the new health-care overhaul law is constitutional, rejecting an argument that Congress lacked the power to create the legislation's "individual mandate," which requires virtually all Americans to purchase health insurance.

Other federal courts have already dismissed some challenges to the law on technical grounds - ruling, for instance, that the plaintiffs lacked standing. However, the decision issued Thursday by Judge George Caram Steeh of the Eastern District of Michigan is the first to reject a claim based on the merits, marking a notable victory for the Obama administration.

The plaintiffs, three people and the Thomas More Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm in Ann Arbor, had objected to being compelled to choose between buying health coverage that they do not want or paying a tax penalty that, they argued, would go into the nation's general fund and could end up paying for abortions.

They further argued that because the decision not to buy insurance is a form of inactivity rather than an economic activity, it is not covered by the clause of the Constitution that grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100706497.html

[MisterP]

1. yay mandates! oh, wait... nt

[Ozymanithrax]

2. That is a real win for Obama and the American people. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

3. It just gets it one more step towards the Supreme Court

I don't see the makeup of that Court changing before this case gets there.

[DearAbby]

5. And you think what?

The Right wing Judges will vote against a mandate to purchase health care from large bloated health care Insurance corporations?

[customerserviceguy]

9. I think that they will vote against a mandate

It undercuts the financing of the HCR, and destabilizes it.

[Gravel Democrat]

4. No supporter of this mandate will have a problem when (R)s mandate the purchase of something

from a for profit company

I'm sure of it.

[Cal33]

6. It's no longer strange that the small but rich minority always get

to win overy the majority, because the rich have the money to buy
and bribe their way through. As a recent poster here wrote: "it's
no longer left vs. right, it' corporations vs. you and me."

[DearAbby]

7. Its always been

hidden under view, but its always been there. They are winning

[BlueIris]

8. Just because it's legal for now doesn't make it acceptable.

This pathetic excuse for non-reform sickens me daily.