Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Health Care Reform

Almost as soon as President Obama passed a rather diluted version of health care reform, there were claims of it being unconstitutional. With that said, a number of lawsuits were filed. Just this past week, a judge dismissed two of Virginia’s legal challenges to the new health care law. Apparently, at this time, health care reform is within the bounds of the Constitution. I am sure this battle will continue.

What happened when Medicare was put in place? Was it considered unconstitutional as well?

This behavior tends to be apparent when people (and lobbyists) simply don’t agree with policy and legislation. Go ahead, file a lawsuit. Place the blame on a breach of the constitution. Lawsuits have a great way of holding up the process or even preventing the law from ever seeing the light of day.

Is health care reform truly unconstitutional?

In the Virginia lawsuits, the point was made that health care reform was counter to the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution. For clarification, the 9th Amendment reads as follows:

“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The 10th amendment reads as follows:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

What was the intent of the Bill of Rights? Should that not drive the discussion?

My question is this: how can a health care plan be considered unconstitutional when the three sovereign rights of man – outlined in the United States Declaration of Independence - are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”? I would consider health care having a direct effect on these sovereign rights. But then again, I am not a Supreme Court justice, nor do I play one on TV.

Or has this just become a high-dollar game using the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a pawn in the power plays of lobbyists? Or is it yet another example of filing legal action – because you have the “rights” to do so – even though you have the “responsibility” to elect legislators that represent your agenda, and not those of the lobbyists?

That is what concerns me more than anything else.

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