-by David Katz, MD
Here is a passage lifted ver batim from The New York Times coverage of
the decision by a federal judge in Virginia that the Obama
Administration's health care reform legislation was in parts
unconstitutional:
"Thus far, judges appointed by Republican presidents have ruled
consistently against the Obama administration, while Democratic
appointees have found for it."
Richmond, we have a problem. The contents of the U.S. Constitution
shouldn't change when seen through a red lens, or blue. That the
meaning of the Constitution varies diametrically when seen from the
left or seen from the right is, in a word, wrong. It makes reading the
Constitution sound like reading tea leaves.
In the case of the controversial provision -- the requirement that
everyone buy health insurance or be penalized -- what DID the
Constitution mean to say?
Almost certainly: not a thing! When our Constitution was drafted,
health insurance wasn't on anybody's radar (neither, for that matter,
was radar). Medicine was primitive; hospitals were all but
nonexistent; long-term care institutions did not exist. There was no
dialysis, no organ transplantation, no open heart surgery, no
angioplasty. Acute threat to life or limb generally meant...loss of
life or limb. And when the medical services of the day were required
and of any use, the barter system took care of the costs more often
than not.
One need not be a Constitutional scholar (and I hasten to note: I am
not!) to know that the Constitution was silent on health care
insurance for the same reason it was silent on inter-stellar travel.
Such concerns were not part of the world in which the document was
drafted.
So the Constitution is silent on health insurance per se. But it is
not silent, of course, on government powers and their limits, and
that's where the controversial interpretations pertaining to health
care reform originate.
The U.S. Constitution says the government can't force you to buy
anything. Or at least, it says something like that.
The states can force you to buy auto insurance if you drive a car.
But, they can't force you to drive -- or own -- a car. So, free will
prevails! The Constitution is OK with this.
The state can't force you to buy or rent an abode. But the authorities
can hassle you interminably if you attempt to rest your head in just
about any alternative place -- just ask a homeless person in any major
city. Let's call this one a bit gray.
The controversy now is: What about health care, and the insurance that
generally pays for it?
The decision in Virginia suggests that health insurance is like any
other commodity, and the federal government does not have the
authority to force us to buy it. Specifically, Judge Hudson stated
that the government lacks authority "... to compel an individual to
involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity
in the private market."
The crux of the matter, then, is involuntarily entering the stream of commerce.
Alrighty, then; what about involuntarily bleeding to death? What about
a case of involuntary HIV? What about involuntary meningitis, or heart
failure? Few people I know volunteer for medical calamities. Medical
calamities are, quite predictably, involuntary. And there's the rub.
On any given day, any of us can be involuntarily thrust into the
"stream" of health care commerce by an involuntary disaster. Then the
only question is: will we, or won't we, have a paddle?
When life and limb are imperiled, we intervene -- and worry about the
bill afterward. Human decency requires nothing less.
But afterward, there IS a bill -- and someone has to pay it. Leaving
out the details, that someone will be us. It will be paid through our
taxes, or paid in our health premiums. In other words, we, the
insured, ARE being forced to 'enter the stream of commerce'
involuntarily, to pay the bills of those who opted out. Bad enough to
be forced to buy something for yourself -- how about being forced to
buy something for the other guy, who opted out of the system and left
the bill to you and me?
That's the problem with thinking of health care -- and the insurance
to pay for it -- as if it were any other commodity. People can just
say no to any other commodity. They can't say 'no' to resuscitation
from cardiac arrest -- at least not until after they are a beneficiary
of it!
And worse than that- the only bills we pay on behalf of those who
choose not to play are the high-cost, post-calamity bills. We don't
pay for preventive care, so those opting out don't get it. They won't
get their cholesterol checked, but they will get CPR. They get, and we
pay for, the worst kind of care: post-catastrophe, high-cost,
questionable outcome, totally involuntary care.
These are facts, readily substantiated. So where do they leave us?
In doubt, perhaps, about what the Constitution meant to say. But maybe
the Constitution did not mean to say anything about health insurance,
because health insurance is not like any other 'commodity.' It flows
in a current quite apart from the prevailing 'stream of commerce.'
My personal opinion is that health care access should be in the
Constitution as a case apart. Namely, it should be codified in the
Bill of Rights as an amendment: everyone has a right to acute medical
care at a time of crisis. I have made that case before. How can we
rally around a right to bear arms, but not protect the arms that do
the bearing? How can we protect the right to assemble, without
protecting the limbs that carry us to the assembly? Life and limb
would seem to qualify as priority items, and their protection a public
good, with widespread public support.
But the Bill of Rights, for now, includes no such entry. In the
absence of such a constitutional right, perhaps we need the 'No Label'
movement to help us see the Constitution through a lens that is
neither blue nor red. Perhaps an uncolored lens would show us more
clearly what the Constitution meant to say in this case.
While waiting for the politics to play out, while waiting to see if
the prevailing view of the Constitution is to left or to right, I
maintain that inconsistent access to health care is wrong.
Our modern politics, and the polarization that currently prevails, is
inviting us to infer what the Constitution meant to say yesterday.
That it is open to interpretation and changes when viewed from left or
right seems to indicate we are far from sure. We are putting words
never spoken into the mouths of our Founders.
Maybe they just didn't answer this question for us, and we are left to
figure out for ourselves what constitutes the right thing to do.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/left-right-wrong-health-c_b_797516.html
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment