Supreme Court upholds health care reform
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling upheld the Affordable Care Act of 2010. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the court ruled that the individual mandate requiring virtually every American to own health insurance is a tax, not a penalty, and thus legal for Congress to enact. The ruling is a call to action for prolifers everywhere to repeal the law. Numerous provisions exist in the law that force federal taxpayers to heavily subsidize abortion insurance and authorize federal bureaucrats to ration life-saving medical treatment.
Unless repealed, federal subsidies will begin in 2014 to subsidize millions of private insurance plans that will cover abortion-on-demand, including some plans that will be administered by the federal government. Under another provision of the law, the federal government could even order many plans that do not receive federal subsidies to cover abortion as a “preventive” service.
Obamacare will give federal bureaucrats the power to impose “quality” measures on all health care providers, under which life-saving treatments that run afoul of the imposed standards could be denied, even if the patient is willing and able to pay for it. In 2015, an 18 member “Independent Payment Advisory Board” is directed to inform the federal Department of Health and Human Services how to use those imposed standards to limit what private citizens are permitted to spend on their own families’ health care to below the rate of medical inflation.
Appeals court ruled health insurance requirement unconstitutional
The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on August 12, 2011, that the requirement for all citizens to purchase health insurance under health care reform law (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) was unconstitutional. The decision did not go as far as the district court ruling that said implementation of other parts of the law, including provisions dealing with abortion or rationing, should cease. The case features 26 states as plaintiffs suing the federal government over implementation of the law.
US House voted to repeal health care reform law
Congress, in its first major accomplishment of the 2011 term, voted to repeal the health care reform law. H.R. 2 passed on January 19, 2011 with a 245 to 189 vote. The health care law includes multiple provisions that allow tax-funding of abortions through insurance and provisions that could allow government rationing of medical treatments. The vote represented the will of the American people to reevaluate health care reform. Abortion is not health care. National Right to Life Committee and Right to Life of Michigan supported the passage of H.R. 2.
Michigan Roll Call
Prolife Vote H.R. 2 - "Yea |
H.R. 2 - "Nay" |
1 - Dan Benishek—(R) |
5 - Dale Kildee (D) |
Background
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a massive restructuring of health care. It was strongly opposed by all major prolife groups, including Right to Life of Michigan and the National Right to Life Committee.
The new law requires that U.S. citizens purchase health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty. Also starting in 2014, the federal government will provide insurance subsidies called affordability credits to households earning up to four times the federal poverty level. ACA also will greatly expand Medicaid and restructure Medicare. The abortion provisions in the health care law are most concerning to prolife people:
Individuals can use affordability credits to purchase insurance plans that cover elective abortion. This federal funding of insurance plans that cover abortion violates the long-standing principles of the Hyde Amendment.
The U.S. House approved ACA on Sunday, March 21, 2010, with a vote of 219-212. One day after signing PPACA into law, President Obama signed an Executive Order which Representative Bart Stupak and other prolife Democrats touted as a fix for the pro-abortion provisions in ACA. However, prolife groups concur that the Executive Order fails to correct any of the pro-abortion problems listed above. In response to the Executive Order, National Right to Life issued a statement that read in part: "The Executive Order promised by President Obama was issued for political effect. It changes nothing. It does not correct any of the serious pro-abortion provisions in the bill. The president cannot amend a bill by issuing an order, and the federal courts will enforce what the law says."
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