The bizarre politics of the individual mandate

Sam Smith


The fact that another court of appeals has ruled in favor of the unconstitutional individual health mandate should come as no surprise. After all, the commerce clause is about the only section of the Constitution that those in power believe should be constantly expanded, even as they drastically contract the protections of the Bill of Rights.

But there’s another strong argument against an individual health mandate: it’s politically stupid, a point reinforced by the voters of Ohio who decided by two to one to reject any such program.

Back in 1994, the Congressional Budget Office had this to say about an individual mandate: “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

This was at a time when Democrats still acted like Democrats, so the 57 members of their party in the Senate and 270 in the House were not likely to go for such a misguided scheme.

These, however, are times when a tone deaf administration was – until the outcry even reached the White House – proposing a 15 cent tax on Christmas trees. The era is long gone when anyone suggesting something so politically absurd would have been barred from even stuffing envelopes for the party let alone being head of the Agriculture Department.

What is so striking about the mandate is that it will clearly hurt those at the bottom of the economic ladder, yet even Democratic liberals are sticking by it, another sign of how the liberal elite demographic has alienated itself from its former constituency.

As the Women's Economic Agenda Project noted, “Individual mandates place unfair financial burdens on everyone but the wealthiest. The average health insurance premium for a family of four today is just over $12,000 a year. Middle class families would not be able to afford this cost, which does not even include additional out-of-pocket expenses. Already, 50% of bankruptcies are the result of medical bills that American's cannot pay, and this phenomenon will only worsen with the advent of the individual mandate.“

At the lower end, the mandate could easily double what a family pays under federal law. The health care plans offered these folks would be minimal and chock full of exemptions. Further, the chances that those targeted will be able to understand the baroque regulations the Obamites will attach is pretty small.

Of course, you can always forget about it and pay the penalty which, by 2016, could be as high as $2000 a year or 5% of a $40,000 a year salary.

And why? Because the Obama administration and the Democratic Party are perfectly content to force citizens to subsidize one of the most useless industries in the country: the private health insurance corporations.

Every fine that is paid under this plan is a form of political tribute required so the private insurance industry can continue to thrive and politicians can continue to receive its contributions.

It could easily become a big issue in the 2012 and one can expect a popular reaction not unlike that in Ohio.

The only thing is that it could have been worse: The Obama adminsitation could have kept its tax on Christmas trees.