Health Care Debate Not Over, Constitutionality Questioned.

With the Health Care Bill moving from the Senate to the House for approval, some Republican Senators are using this time to ask if the Bill is even constitutional. The two main problems of the bill are: whether the deal Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson received for his state is constitutional, and is the overall premise of mandating Americans to purchase legal?

The deal dubbed "The Nebraska Compromise" exempts the state from paying medicare costs for life. This in return costs the government 100 million dollars over 10 years, so in essence taxpayers from other states pay the medicare costs of Nebraska. First off, how does this even sound fair to Democrats? I am pretty sure even a room of 6th graders could figure out that this isn't right. Unless those six graders are from Detroit but that's a completely different topic.


Now, under the constitution, which this Health Care Bill must follow, there is a clause in the Fourteenth Amendment known as Equal Protection. In a nut shell the clause basically says that a state shall not deny anyone equal protection under the laws. It reinforces that all men are created equal. Typically its used to reference discrimination according to color, race, sex or anything you basically can think of. In this Health Care case its being questioned weather people from 49 states aren't being granted the same protection and rights as Nebraska. In essence the answer is simple. If you don't live in Nebraska you are being discriminated against.

If you are reading this, please don't be the person that says you cant be discriminated against because of what state you live in, or even that's not what discrimination is. Discrimination isn't contained by color, race, or sex. By definition, it is the simple treatment in favor or against a person based on any group, class or category they may fall in. Now that we have that out of the way it should be plenty clear why this entire provision for Nebraska is wrong. The simple fact that I live outside of Nebraska shouldn't mean that I should have to cover their taxes.

The second part of the Health Care bill that is being questioned is if the Federal Government can force you to buy something which in this case is Health Care. Many people out there don't realize that there is in fact a penalty for not purchasing Health Care which ranges from a fine to a short bout in jail. Ask yourself if this seems right. I understand many peoples argument that "Health Care is supposed to help people" so everyone should get it. The problem however is that argument can be made in a lot of cases depending on how perverted your logic is.


For instance, "We all want to protect the Earth. Carbon emissions are bad. Incandescent light bulbs are bad for the environment. Energy star light bulbs will be better for everyone to have." Now the government proposes a bill mandating all homes to have Energy Star or florescent lights by the end of the year. Is this likely to happen? Maybe not, but it could be possible. The idea of the government telling everyone in the country they MUST buy something isn't really American.

Earlier someone made the argument to me that the government already forces you in some states to get car insurance. The simple fact is that driving is a privilege not a right you have under the Constitution so that's perfectly acceptable. Contrary, you have a Right To Live, its not a privilege.

I think that soon you will see this Nebraska provision removed from the Health Care Bill altogether. The concept of reform in the industry is a good one. However, in this situation the Bill has gotten too big and ridiculous. If it is passed, I think it will only be the beginning to what will be a long ride down a slippery slope.