Chief Justice Roberts got it right...or did he?

Obamacare and the Supreme Court

      I remember joking that those on the political left treated president Bush’s appointment of judge John Roberts as the nefarious Dread Pirate Roberts in the movie The Princess Bride. But now the Left think he’s a “hero.” On the flip side the Right is furious and say Chief Roberts sold out for a “massive spending spree.”

      Being a pragmatist, I view the whole thing differently. On a technicality, Judge Roberts was right to assume that the Individual Manadate (key component of Obamcare to force people to buy health insurance) is a tax.  It doesn’t matter if, in the past, president Obama said the affordable health care act was a tax or not (although he did speak on it i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ixAxfAhAhs).  What matters is what the Obama attorneys are presenting in court. And Chief Roberts realized that if it looks like a tax, and walks like a tax, and operates like a tax…it’s a tax.  It really is no different than Medicare or Medicaid…but on a grander scale.

      What irks the conservatives is that it’s one more step to big government taking control of our lives. And they are correct. It is one more step in that direction. We as Americans must pay a nominal sum during tax time and in the process give up a little more freedom. In return,  the government provides its citizens (and many illegals) with health care of some type.

      If the government wants to do it right, it would use a progressive payment system like our tax code, and abolish all forms of Medicare and Medicaid. But that’s wishful thinking at best. Once Obamacare is fully implemented, a plethora of ugly details will undoubtedly rise to the surface, forcing us to ask pesky questions. Will fraud run rampant as when Medicaid did?  Will costs go sky high like other government run programs? Will private agencies like the Catholic Church have to go against their religious convictions to fund abortions? Will long lines reminiscent of the Soviet Union become common-place? Will research and development for new drugs grind to a halt from lack of incentive? And ultimately, will we get the health care we hoped for?

      There are plenty of ifs in this brave new health care program. And no one knows what it will develop into. A loose technicality may have brought Chief Justice Roberts to side with the left, but only time will tell if he got it right.