No matter what happens now, this US supreme court case is historical.
This US supreme court healthcare hearings transcript and audio analysis is worth saving as a record of the whole thing.
It seems that the US is not alone in the struggle to balance healthcare and its costs -- Really hope I could find the story on NPR this morning about healthcare in Germany.
I guess the process to make universal healthcare a reality in the US is very much the same like the process to realize democracy in China. Progress always seems to be three steps forward followed by two steps back. Without a super majority in the population going for a tremendous endeavor like that, we all just have to wait and see while doing little bits of good in the hope to push things along. It is probably against my religion to wish the conservatives on the supreme court wise up a bit. But, oh well......
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
4. Hanging in the Balance
Once again, the whole country is hanging in the balance. The welfare of most of the people is balanced on the nine wise people -- It's like Déjà vu all over again, twelve years later.
I don't deny that there are possibly some sincere people who are against the Affordable Care Act, but I have a hard time following their logic. Driving home in the evening, NPR reporting on the day's supreme court drama said one man actually suggested one could buy health insurance in the ER, or when health insurance is needed. That, to me, just shows the nutty-ness of the people arguing against the law.
Here is a paragraph from the NPR reporting:
Hard to believe that I actually finished listening to the entire session. I didn't expect it would be so much fun to listen to the supreme court either. The justices are pretty impressive, especially Chief Justice Roberts. He sounds very much balanced and composed in his questioning and statements. I do think some times they pretend to be old and dumb.
The arguments back and forth about whether the penalty part is or is not tax. It's funny to hear the government Solicitor General defending people who don't want to call it a tax, but in the mean time they are in fact exercising Congress' taxing power.
The real irony is that, many who are against the Act, who want the government out of their healthcare, like the woman in the NPR report, are actually on Medicare or Medicaid.
"Stupidity is a preexisting condition." -- Bill Maher
I guess he is right.
Here is a paragraph from the NPR reporting:
Justice Scalia disagreed, suggesting that the health care regulations here were defined too broadly. "It may well be that everybody needs health care sooner or later, but not everybody needs a heart transplant, not everybody needs a liver transplant," he said. "...[e]verybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market. Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli."I have heard that before. To put it delicately, I find that conclusion completely absurd. How does everybody is in the market for food lead to you can make people buy broccoli? Since when does broccoli become synonym for food?
Hard to believe that I actually finished listening to the entire session. I didn't expect it would be so much fun to listen to the supreme court either. The justices are pretty impressive, especially Chief Justice Roberts. He sounds very much balanced and composed in his questioning and statements. I do think some times they pretend to be old and dumb.
The arguments back and forth about whether the penalty part is or is not tax. It's funny to hear the government Solicitor General defending people who don't want to call it a tax, but in the mean time they are in fact exercising Congress' taxing power.
The real irony is that, many who are against the Act, who want the government out of their healthcare, like the woman in the NPR report, are actually on Medicare or Medicaid.
"Stupidity is a preexisting condition." -- Bill Maher
I guess he is right.
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