Obamacare is Constitutional

U.S. Supreme Court

The Affordable Health Care Act has been ruled constitutional by a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court.    The Republicans, dominated by freshman Tea Party congressmen, unlimited Super PAC money, Fox News, right wing radio and lobbyists for big insurance and pharmaceuticals, are predictably screaming bloody murder.     I do agree with many in the Republican rank and file who think our representatives should be entitled to no more benefits than the rest of us receive.   Let's see how they'd like the reality of our patchwork health care system.     I hear a lot of fears being spread that don't necessarily hold up under the weight of the facts.   Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who sponsored the Massachusetts health care reform that became the forerunner for Obamacare, is in no position to want it all thrown out.   Some conservative lawmakers had been the original champions of the individual health coverage mandate.   When I think of the way they labeled John Kerry a flip-flopper in 2004 and piled on in favor of the unfunded George W. Bush senior drug benefit that cost billions we didn't have, their collective record on getting government out of health care has been inconsistent at best.    Under President Obama, any reform is deemed socialist and compromise is a lost art.   Medicare is an example of government involvement in health care working successfully with private enterprise.   The Veterans Administration is a noble idea but arguably too much government in light of some scandalous conditions at VA hospitals.   The conservative or libertarian models of just letting the market take care of itself tend to super serve wants more than needs, leading to a wider variety of erectile dysfunction medications while antibiotic research and access to family physicians get less attention.   We already pay twice as much per patient as other developed nations.   The status quo cannot stand    Obamacare is not the last word in health care costs and coverage, but it's a start.   Where's the Republican plan?