UPDATED: A disastrous, appalling decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court today. The Court upheld the individual mandate and socialized medicine, saying both are constitutional, despite the fact that a recent poll found 68% of Americans want all or part of the law repealed. The federal government can now force us to buy what we don’t want. Washington politicians and bureaucrats will become the final arbiter of our most personal medical decisions, rationing care for many and denying care to some who are not deemed worthy of receiving it, especially if the care is expensive. The “Affordable Care Act” (nicknamed “Obamacare”) nationalizes 1/7th of our economy, imposes one of the largest tax increases in American history on an economy already struggling, massively increases government spending, and will increase the national debt by $1.15 trillion, according to a recent study. This, despite the fact that we already have a crushing federal debt of more than $15 trillion, and another $65 trillion in unfunded liabilities related to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid coming at us with breakneck speed. Our ship of state is hurtling towards massive debt icebergs, yet rather than slow down or change direction, we are accelerating our deficit spending. Bottom line: the implosion of the American economy has just become more likely.
Consider the facts:
- Congressional Budget Office report says ”Affordable Care Act” could cost 20 million private sector employees to lose their health care coverage
- Full CBO report (PDF)
- Study finds “Affordable Care Act” will impose more than $500 billion in tax increases on U.S. private sector
- Study finds “Affordable Care Act” will impose 18 separate tax increases
- Study finds “Affordable Care Act” will increase budget deficit by more than $1.15 trillion
- Full study (PDF)
- 85% of small businesses are not hiring new employees, and nearly half of those businesses say the potential cost of health care regulations is a major reason
- 46% of American doctors say they may leave the profession if federal government takes over the U.S. health care system
- Top doctor’s chilling claim: British National Health System kills off 130,000 elderly patients every year
- “Up to 20,000 people have died needlessly early after being denied cancer drugs on the NHS”
- A useful analysis of the folly of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion from the Wall Street Journal