December 2009

Opponents of health care insurance reform continue to hammer away at health coverage mandates that Congress is mulling. But David Orentlicher, a law professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and co-director of the Hall Center for Law and Health, maintains that those opponents are pushing a wobbly argument. In a column for The Huffington Post, Orentlicher, also on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine, concludes that such mandates are "justified by the Constitution's grant to Congress of a taxing power and a commerce clause power."

Orentlicher writes:

The taxing power is a well-established basis for enacting an individual mandate. Indeed, this country has had a tax-based mandate to purchase health care insurance for nearly 45 years. The Medicare program imposes a payroll tax on Americans as a way to fund coverage of their hospital costs once they reach age 65. People cannot opt out of Medicare; it is an obligatory system of health care insurance for one's senior years. Similarly, Congress can use a payroll tax to implement a mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance before they reach age 65. Under the House bill, for example, people will pay a 2.5 percent tax on their income unless they have health care coverage.

...

Under the commerce clause, Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, and the health care insurance industry clearly falls within the Supreme Court's understanding of interstate commerce.

Orentlicher's entire piece is available here. For more on the debate over individual mandates, see analysis from Professors Erwin Chemerinsky and Robert A. Schapiro. 

[Image via drboyceretirement.blogspot.com/ ]

At a recent ACS event exploring criminal justice policy, Sen. Jim Webb and Rep. Robert C. Scott said the nation needs to confront shortcomings of the criminal justice system.

Below are two YouTube clips of the lawmakers' comments. Webb discussed legislation he is sponsoring, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, and Rep. Scott said that tough-on-crime laws have proven ineffective and costly.

Webb said, "America's criminal justice system is broken and its inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. I believe that it is time to bring together the best minds in America to confer, report, and make concrete recommendations about how we can reform the process."

Rep. Scott said, "Research clearly demonstrates that a comprehensive approach - a strategy of prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation will significantly reduce crime and usually save more money than you spend it the process." Video of the event, including the lawmakers' entire comments, is available here.