After Supreme Court decision, health care debate bound to go on

CBS/iStockphoto

(CBS News) The national debate over health care started long before President Obama unveiled his ideas for the Affordable Care Act, and they are sure to continue through this year and beyond -- even after Thursday's Supreme Court's ruling.

The court could go so far as to strike down the entire law, leaving a policy vacuum for lawmakers to fill. Or it could uphold the law, giving some vindication to Mr. Obama's struggle to pass it. But given the continued protests over the law, the final verdict may not come until well past November's election.

"It's premature to be talking about the Affordable Care Act as an Obama accomplishment -- you have to put an asterisk there, to wait a year and see," said presidential historian Doug Brinkley. Still, he predicted, "If it can weather this brutal storm of 2012 -- and certainly if President Obama gets re-elected -- it will eventually become as much of American life as the Fourth of July and Memorial Day."

The heart of the debate over the health care law comes down to the issue of government overreach -- whether the federal government can compel individuals to acquire insurance and whether it can force an expansion of Medicaid upon the states. It's a debate that spans back decades.

Ahead of Medicare's passage in 1965, conservatives opposed to the federal program objected to government interference in medicine. "From here it's a short step to all the rest of socialism, to determining his pay and pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school where he will go or what he will do for a living," argued Ronald Reagan in a 1961 message he recorded for the American Medical Association.

Those remarks were revived and trumpeted by conservatives during debate over the health care bill, who similarly called Mr. Obama's law, the "crown jewel of socialism."

Some have suggested the Affordable Care Act will become more popular over time, like Medicare. The starting point is different, however. Gallup polling from the 1960's shows that the idea behind Medicare enjoyed support from a majority of Americans before its passage -- that stands in contrast to the constant controversy over the Obama health care law.

Since it was signed over two years ago, more Americans continue to disapprove than approve of the health care law. In the latest CBS News/New York Times poll released earlier this month, 34 percent approved of it, while 48 percent disapproved, including 36 percent who said they strongly disapprove of the health care law.

"The Affordable Care Act comes at a time when our deficit is so great and our country so divided, it's a non-analogous situation," said Brinkley. "It's largely thought that [Obama] somehow slipped [the law] in through a very center-right country." By contrast, when Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law, "Liberalism was the reigning philosophy."

Johnson passed Medicare with a huge mandate, illustrated by a decisive presidential victory in 1964 and the large Democratic majority in the Senate. Still, health care remained a pressing issue in the next administration.

In 1974, CBS News' Daniel Schorr reported on President Richard Nixon's plan to expand private health insurance coverage, noting that Nixon said he would fix "the massive crisis of spiraling costs and overstrained medical resources."

That plan didn't pass, but Nixon did expand Medicare coverage, and the program has been amended again and again over time.

As the debate over health care reform continued into the Obama presidency, so did the debate over Medicare. Republicans seized on the issue of Medicare in 2010, decrying the $500 million in cuts to the program that the Affordable Care Act enacted. Democrats, meanwhile, have attacked the Republican plan -- supported by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney -- to alter Medicare, giving seniors the option of enrolling in private insurance on a voucher system.

If Romney prevails this November, he promises to close the chapter on the Affordable Care Act, repealing it on day one of his presidency. If Mr. Obama prevails, the Affordable Care Act could become an integral part of the American fabric, as Brinkley suggests -- and like Medicare, a continued subject of debate.

[Topekacat]

The problem is...

Too Much Health Insurance.

I know you'll agree if you think about. Disagree? Read the article below.

http://commonlyqualified.com/

[raptor-022]

venusvegasvada June 27, 2012 3:18 PM EDT
"I'm sure if costs were reasonable they wouldn't have had to pass Obamacare in the first place."


raptor-022 June 27, 2012 6:35 PM EDT
"BINGO! This was all about affordable care, and even the republicans had been whining about the soaring health care costs for at least the past two decades, and did absolutely nothing about it!"


mortarman29th1SG June 27, 2012 7:03 PM EDT
"PPACA will not cut costs, will not save us money. It will not bring down the costs of healthcare. It will in fact, increase it."





Actually mortar, it's clearly YOU that doesn't get it, since the CBO has continuously stated that the PPACA will reduce deficits -- much more over the second decade -- and there are clearly several cost-cutting sections in the law that YOU obviously never read!

Try reading Sections 1302, 1312, 1333 and 6801 of the PPACA.

For instance, Section 1302, with its health care exchanges, allows individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do. This is a very good part of the law that's been upheld by SCOTUS, and would help small business owners, which obviously you are not with your gnashing of teeth!

As a matter of fact, even one of the REDDEST states, UTAH, has already gone forward with health exchanges, with 30% of their residents already benefiting from this cost-saving method!


Utah moves ahead with federal health reform mandates
June 23, 2012

Defining a baseline for coverage is an important step toward compliance for the state's Health Exchange, which began enrolling employees of small businesses in Utah during a test phase in 2009. It currently provides more than 140 health care coverage options to more than 7,000 individuals and their dependents.

Exchange director Patty Conner said the state will move ahead with its exchange with or without federal health reform, as it has served as "a good value to the state." She said 30 percent of the population benefiting from the exchange did not previously have coverage from an employer.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=20913438&s_cid=rss-960

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Come back mortar, after you have read those sections that are definitely cost-saving methods in the constitutional PPACA, and leave your ridiculous ideology behind, since it does more harm than good with your posts!

[Nocults]

Once the anti American GOP economic terrorist pimps for the 1% on the Supreme Court rule for the destruction of Democracy, and our Constitution, the nation will be stuck with a status quo in which the ranks of the uninsured continue to swell, more workers lose their company health insurance, premiums rise, benefits shrink and more people skip medical treatments because of cost. Meanwhile, the nation's health care bill, which was an estimated $2.7 trillion last year, will continue to devour an ever-larger share of the economy, while tax cuts for the rich become the everlasting reality.

[GeorgeKafantaris]

Why are we polarized over the insurance mandate when it actually makes us pay our debts; and gives help and dignity to millions of uninsured Americans?
"The insurance mandate is socialism, plain and simple."
If it's socialism, you'd have to buy it from the government, which would also tell you what doctor or hospital to go to. But you can buy health insurance from anybody, and you can get treated by the doctor and hospital you want. What's socialist about that?
"Can't you see, the government is making us buy insurance. We have no choice in the matter."
Do you have a choice not to get hurt, or not to get sick? Why then do you want a choice
not to have insurance to pay for it when you do?
States in fact already have an individual mandate for car insurance, and they have been putting uninsured drivers in jail for years.
"That's different. Driving is a privilege."
Then free health care must be a right in your book. Maybe this idea came from hospitals continuing to treat the uninsured the last half century.
The trade off to us living in a civilized society is that we have to follow rules we don't agree with. In return, we get great many things, including goods and services that otherwise would be unavailable. But, we still have to pay for them. The mandate makes sure that we do.
What's wrong with that?

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

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[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

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[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

Have a good evening. See if you can understand Jesus for once.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

ping

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

ping

I just want you to realize that you ALWAYS insult those who disagree with you, and call them liars when they point out your mistakes. I've seen you call every other poster "liar" for pages on end, with at least 5 different poster on the same thread.

Again, I hope your children aren't such sore losers as you are.

Have a good evening. Reflect upon your lack of humility.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

Thanks for proving my points again and again for me Mortar.

"by mortarman29th1SG
Anyone with an IQ over 12 knows that."

And yet again.

Thanks for proving my point once again, unrepentant sinner.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

I'm not. Sorry you cannot handle that it's actually you who is the liar.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

Here's the proof that Mortar has NEVER been an employer.

"by Mortar29Inf1SG June 12, 2012 1:36 PM EDT
Im not dumping my health insurance on the government. That would be your assumption!

I am dropping coverage, and increasing my employee's pay.

second, how is it a demotion? So, regular employees are somehow a step above independent contractors? How does that work? "

NO employer would EVER ask such a question.

Mortar may be self-employed, or perhaps a store manager, but has NEVER employed anyone else.

QED. Hoist on your own petard, Mortar.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

The sad fact is that almost every poster on here other than Empire sees straight through your insults and lack of humility.

You can lie about me, and lie about yourself, as much as you want, but it is sinning, and WILL send you straight to a very hot place.

Just illustrating those points, and have been.

Thanks for proving my points.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

Again you prove my points.

[RepubsRFiscallyLiberal]

ping