The LuLac Edition #2106, June 28th, 2012

Depiction of the Court Decision this morning. 

UPHELD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today the Supreme Court of America upheld The Affordable Care Act. By a vote of 5 to 4, the Court did not strike down the individual mandate. The bill is constitutional. Not since the landmark decision of the Warren Court on Brown Vs. the Board of Education has a decision been so widely anticipated. The Supreme Court recognized a few things that people who possess a modicum of common sense know: 
1. You can’t overturn something that is not yet in effect. How can you try to overturn a law when its effects and ramifications have not yet been put into practice? 
2. Right now we Americans are required to buy car insurance, we have to buy registrations for those cars, we have to pay a fee to get married and a fee to get divorced. We have to pay a fee to cross a bridge and dispose of our garbage. Is it such a stretch that we require Americans to buy health care? 
3. Roberts recognized that by not upholding the law, chaos would ensue. I read in the newspaper the other day that the local Blue Cross said the worst case scenario would be to throw out the individual mandate. In a country that wants our citizens to play by the rules, why would we allow citizens to abuse the system by not buying insurance when healthy but having others pay for the benefits when they are sick. I could never understand why the opponents who say they want a level playing field wanted to impose that unfairness in any system. 
4. This decision being upheld also gives insurance companies an opportunity to budget and prepare a financial model on how to pay claims. As a young boy in 1965, I heard the hue and cry when Medicare was passed. We were told the insurance companies would be put out of business. Yet companies like Blue Cross, Geisinger and Aetna make millions of dollars on supplemental policies. With the 80/20 rule, the insurance companies are going to become stewards of community health instead of rate raising shylocks. 
A follower of this site, Sabrina McLaughin wrote on her Facebook posting today that she is so used to having the Democrat’s policies knocked around and opposed these days that she was shocked the bill was upheld. On my drive to work, I had music on but at 1015PM tuned to a talk station to hear the bill was scrapped. I too was pleasantly surprised. No, I was elated. The bill should have been better (a public option) and should have been explained more clearly by the administration and not defined by a Republican party that has lost its mind. But today was a great day in America. Today, a Supreme Court Chief Justice chose common sense over ideology. John Roberts chose to take a bold stand and not stoke the flames of defeatism. The delicious irony in all of this is that he was a Justice picked by a Republican President. History has a way of shaping the man. As Earl Warren did in the 1950s making Civil Rights possible, so did John Roberts in this century. Making health care possible for all Americans. 

OBAMA TAX 

The new mantra now for the right and the Republican party will be to call this an Obama Tax. They couldn’t win on calling the Affordable Health Care Act Obama Care, now they have to label it a tax. Incredible. I am stunned at how quickly the spin masters of the GOP went to work. And these people are dangerous. These people are destructive. These people almost defeated the Health Care bill with staged town halls that scared politicians into hiding. Their rhetoric drove out many courageous political people that took a stand for the individual and not the corporation. Their job will be to now convince America that by buying health care, it will be a tax. Like Rasputin, their ill words refuse to die because they are fueled by people who are either ignorant of what is good for their country or who are hell bent on destroying any administration plan because it is proposed by a black man. Their comments need to be rebutted. 

A MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT 

The President came out this morning and these words struck me that the man still doesn’t get the fact that people don’t want him to succeed. “I know the debate over this law has been divisive. I respect the very real concerns that millions of Americans have shared.” The debate was divided because the administration let the other side define the debate. The very real concerns Americans had were part of the reckless rhetoric inflicted on them by the Republican right. Before the law was drafted, 85% of the American people wanted a public option. By the time the GOP spinmasters got finished, the Affordable Care Act barely passed. All because the President wanted to invite the bullies who stole his lunch money over for afternoon tea! The Affordable Care Act was Obama’s signature bill and he’s still apologizing for it. The famed chef, Julia Child once wrote, “Never apologize for a dish you made”. Congratulations Mr. President…………but wise the hell up.