Hillary Clinton Rolls Out Healthcare Reform: HillaryCare ll

 

One country, one constitution, one destiny.
Daniel Webster

 

Hillary Clinton has unveiled her second attempt at socialized medicine 13 years after the original debacle. This time, as John Edwards and Barack Obama plan does, she is requiring that every American have health care at the cost of $110 billion per year. This is an overview since not one Democrat presidential candidate has presented any details of any plan on anything as of this date. Clinton stated, “Specific mechanism would be worked out once the plan was passed.” As with any socialized medicine plan being converted from private industry, what has slowly emerged so far with Clinton, Obama and Edwards, is how punitive it will be not to submit.

Sen. Hillary Clinton Unveils $110 Billion Universal Health Care Plan

DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday proposed a health care plan that would require every American to have health insurance just like states require drivers to buy auto insurance.

The so-called “individual mandate” — the centerpiece of her “American Health Choices Plan” — would cost the federal government $110 billion a year and would help provide coverage for 47 million Americans without health care coverage. It is similar to a proposal offered by rival John Edwards. Barack Obama’s health care plan does not have the same mandate.

“I believe everyone — every man, woman and child — should have quality, affordable health care in America,” the New York senator told an audience in Iowa, vowing to accomplish the goal in her first term.

Clinton’s plan is comprised of four main pillars:

— Offering new coverage choices for the insured and uninsured and guaranteeing quality coverage;

— Lowering premiums by removing hidden taxes, stressing prevention and increasing security by ensuring that job loss or family illness won’t lead to a loss of coverage;

— Promoting shared responsibility among individuals, providers, employers and government, and forcing insurance and drug companies to end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and price gouging; and

— Ensuring affordable health coverage for all by providing tax relief, limiting premium payments to a percentage of income and strengthening Medicaid.

The senator’s proposal comes 13 years after her first effort was abandoned, a plan that was unprecedented for a first lady, both in its scope and criticism.

“Perhaps more than anybody else I know just how hard this fight will be,” Clinton said, adding that she is awaiting the pile-on from Republican critics.

“I know my Republican opponents will try to equate health care for all Americans with government-run health care. Don’t let them fool us again. This is not government-run,” she said.

Current problems in the health care industry cannot be solved with the preceding rhetoric or a socialist tactic. Hillary seems to be in a perpetual Marxist mindset and it is incomprehensible to her that a free market can work itself out with little guidance and still stay within the parameters of the Constitution. She dismisses the actual issues with health care, which can be addressed and rectified by the states if they could run the health care lobbyist out of their offices long enough to correct it. Here is the statistical breakdown of uninsured in the U.S.:

• 40 % of the uninsured population earn $50,000 or more
• The percentage of uninsured whites held steady at 10.8%
• The percentage of uninsured African-Americans rose from 19% to 20.5%
• The percentage of uninsured Hispanics rose from 32.3% to 34.1%
• The percentage of uninsured Asians dropped from 17.2% to 15.5%
• 75% of all uninsured individuals will be covered under a health insurance plan within 12 months of first becoming uninsured. Only 2.5% of the population is considered to be chronically uninsured and remains without health insurance coverage for two or more years.
• Currently, roughly 50 percent of uninsured adults pay no federal income taxes.

The problem with HillaryCare or any other type of socialized medicine is– it does not have a constitutional basis of support. If you are unsure of this read Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. If that is insignificant clarity, read the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Between the two it leaves no doubt as to the unconstitutionality of her plan. There is nothing in the constitution that gives the federal government the authority to create socialized medicine. Period. It is that simple. It does not give them the right to do most things they do, but we will stick with medicine for now. Clinton, an attorney, should be acutely aware of this. Maybe her way to circumvent this is in this statement she made, “I know my Republican opponents will try to equate health care for all Americans with government-run health care. Don’t let them fool us again. This is not government-run,” she said.” Who is going to manage and enforce it? Does she think she can have it run by proxy and keep her hands clean? Is she going to set up a puppet health care regime? Hillary Clinton is an unabashed Socialist and views the Constitution as more of a nuisance than a limiter. To get a clear idea of her Marxist mindset, it manifests itself in the ensuing statements concerning oil company profits and right to work:

“I want to take those profits and put them into an alternative energy fund that will begin to fund alternative smart energy alternatives that will actually begin to move us toward the direction of independence.”

She said she could envision a day when “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview — like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,” but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress.

Jesse Jackson Jr. tried to add an amendment to the constitution in 2004 mandating national health care. Possibly he knew socialized medicine would not pass constitutional muster and went the amendment route. This is the only legitimate way to implement anything outside of Article 1 Section 8 or the 10th Amendment. The illegitimate way is to hide behind the coat tails of the “commerce clause.” The proposed amendment is House Joint Resolution 30:

H. J. Res. 30, states:

Section 1. All citizens of the United States shall enjoy the right to health care of equal high quality.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to implement this article by appropriate legislation.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. makes three historically and constitutionally flawed statements concerning the reason he proposed the amendment.

1), He states, “Like the first ten amendments to the Constitution – the Bill of Rights – this amendment provides every American with an individual right. The first ten amendments did give rights to any American.” This is a misconception about the bill of rights. The Bill of Rights only reinforced the limits on the government set up by the Constitution, to prevent something along the lines of socialized medicine. Nothing more, nothing less.

2), He states, “It’s an individual right that is universal – it applies to “all citizens” of the United States.” He is alluding here that is is a universal right to have health care. It is not a universal right. Access to health care is a universal right, but mandating how it is supplied without an amendment is unconstitutional. Another problem with this statement is the term “all citizens”. I am not sure why this is in quotes. Possibly to insure illegal aliens and non-citizens are included. It is suspect to be in quotes.

3) H.J. Res. 30 uses the terms “shall enjoy.” “That means it’s a positive and affirmative individual right as well as a societal and governmental obligation. Most current amendments to the Constitution are legitimate limitations on the government and provide individual protection from the government. They tell you what government cannot do.” Jackson is contradicting himself with this statement compared to what he stated in statement one. He does seem aware of the limitation on the government set forth by the Constitution and its amendments. The problem is his voting record. He votes as if he never read the constitution.

HillaryCare also has fundamental fiscal flaws:.

Clinton adviser Laurie Rubiner said the mandate could be enforced in a number of ways, such as denying certain tax deduction to those who refused to buy insurance. But she stressed that a specific mechanism would be worked out once the plan was passed.

Her proposals “won’t make me the insurance industry’s woman of the year,” Clinton said. Companies would no longer be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or genetic predisposition to certain illnesses.

The New York senator said her plan would require every *American to purchase insurance, either through their jobs or through a program modeled on Medicare or the federal employee health plan. Businesses would be required to offer insurance or contribute to a pool that would expand coverage. Individuals and small businesses would be offered tax credits to make insurance more affordable.

*American: she is going to need Bill on this one. It depends on what the meaning of “American” is. Is it illegal aliens?

There is no legitimate enforcement in this plan. From a financial perspective it would be more economical to not have the deduction than be forced to pay for insurance premiums you may not have the cash flow to afford. If you can, in effect, force a business by law to provide health insurance, someone is going to pay for it other than the business and the government. There is a limit as to how much prices can be increased to cover the additional cost added by socialized medicine. These programs, as presented by the Democrats, will have the same effect that minimum wage legislation does to minimum wage earners: fewer jobs to to cover the extra expense. As with all government programs it is usually a no win situation for the recipient and any one else that gets dragged into it.

If you force, on the federal level, insurance companies to insure anyone that applies, regardless of their past medical history, this will have an adverse effect on premiums for everyone– unless you regulate premiums. This is an issue for each individual state to address. The negative financial reverberations will be felt through out the entire U.S. economy. The last time this type of wholesale regulation was used was with FDR, which not only deepened the depression, it extended it much longer than if the free market economy had been allowed to work itself out with just a little guidance.

The concerning point about HillaryCare at this juncture is who, of the Republican presidential candidates, will take issue with her on the constitutionality and economics of her or any other Democrat presidential candidate’s socialized medicine plan. Who ever does not, does not deserve the Republican nomination for president. There is a point during this campaign process that the compassless Republican party is going to have to take a stand on basic conservative principles and their values to win an election against the Democrats. The 2008 presidential election is a good versus evil scenario and the Republican candidates need to pick a side because trying to hide behind a moderate veil is not going get them elected to the White House or Congress. Think Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America circa 1994.