On health care reform and the constitutionality of Medicare
Say you’re a Republican candidate for governor. It’s very possible your strategist will want a conversation with you today.
Some reporter bent on your destruction, you’ll be told, intends to ask if you think Medicare is constitutionally legitimate. Should a program that serves millions of elderly, dedicated voters be abandoned as an improper expansion of federal authority?
Under no circumstances should you answer “maybe.”
One reason: This would undermine a two-week effort by national GOP strategists to establish Republicans as the protectors of Medicare when the issue comes back before Congress next week.
But that’s exactly what happened today at a presser called by state Senate Republicans today. A group of eight or so said they intend to invoke the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to halt the enforcement of any Washington-approved health care reform in Georgia.
Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock and Judson Hill of Marietta were the main actors.
The Tenth, for the unschooled, says any power not reserved to the federal government belongs to the state.
Writes my AJC colleague Aaron Sheinin, who was there:
“The 10th amendment allows any state to preserve their own rights,” Hill said. “We’re saying this is one right that is preserved for all Georgians and is not delegated out to the United States government.”
Asked if Medicare, which is government-run health care for seniors, would also then be unconstitutional, Hill said, “That’s a good question. I don’t know yet. We’ll fight that battle when it comes before us.”
That’s one for some Democrat’s mailer.
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42 comments Add your comment
DW
September 3rd, 2009
3:31 pm
Don’t grandstand unless you have a solid plan in place. Stop making it up as you go along.
Bill White
September 3rd, 2009
3:46 pm
Yes, of course Medicare is unconstitutional. Unfortunately, this country abandoned its Founding Fathers’ vision years ago.
Thank God for the 10th amendment. It’s there when something like a huge Communistic plan is being forced upon the American people. I hear that the 9-9-09 speech to be presented by Hussein Obama, (the Communist liberals’ president in this country once known as the USA) will in effect be a Nuclear Option speech where this dictator will tell us that a government-controlled system will be put in place very soon.
I do hope that leaders like Mr. Rogers will work towards getting states like Georgia back to what the Founding Fathers intended.
I cannot wait for next year when Democrats and assorted liberals will be pushed out of Congress. Hopefully, we will see an impeachment process set up soon thereafter. We cannot wait until January 2013.
Tom
September 3rd, 2009
3:49 pm
Keep your Republican hands off my Medicare!!
retiredds
September 3rd, 2009
4:05 pm
Bill White, I suggest you read Senators Hill and Rogers responses to specific questions (see Home page) and you will find out that while it sounds good – invoking the 10th Amendment, and endears them to those constituents that agree with them, it is very apparent they haven’t done their homework. Their good answer, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” That’s cool. I also believe that it was Chip Rogers who wanted to return the state surplus (rainy day fund) a few years ago. I wonder what financial straits the State of GA would be in today if they had followed his advice. Seems like he is long on saying what folks want to hear, but very short on substance.
Dean Powers
September 3rd, 2009
4:12 pm
Bill White, Have you read the John Adams Biography by David McCullough? Adams would find your assertions, your name-calling and your ignorance absurd. Adams had a true, heart-felt concern for this country that would have defended the victims of our for-profit insurance industry from the insidious system that now rules the lives of 250 million Americans.
You are thinking of the Founding Fathers of the Taliban, and you might consider moving to a place where you can soak up the wonders of dictatorship and oppression first-hand without any of these sissy liberals to oppose that oppression and sully the moment for you.
retiredds
September 3rd, 2009
4:31 pm
Dean, Bill White’s rantings are to be expected. The resistance to change is a very powerful force. People will dream up lot’s of fables, lies, and fabrications to keep things the same. What Bill doesn’t realize that there is “nothing as constant as change”.
Fishawk
September 3rd, 2009
4:48 pm
One in five Georgians have no health care; the largest percentage in the country and we have two idiots saying they want to try prevent a federal plan. Nearly 1,400 people died in the US during the August break because they had inadequate health coverage. They should both slither back under the rock they crawled out from under. We are surrounded by idiots!God help us and our inhumanity.
GoOx
September 3rd, 2009
6:19 pm
My man Ox’s tweet:
I support the effort by Senators Chip Rogers & Judson Hill – no socialized Obamacare in GA:
VoiceOfReason
September 3rd, 2009
10:22 pm
He’s definitely as smart as an Ox.
Actually, that’s not fair – We have to remember that as a Republican in the insurance commissioner’s office, his job was to do everything possible to support the insurance industry in Georgia – I like to think of the insurance commissioner’s office under his direction as a chamber of commerce just for the insurance industry. His response is actually perfectly in keeping with his ideology – “What’s good for the insurance industry is good for Georgia.” It just may not be good for Georgians.
“Obamacare” could inconveniently tip the balance of power in favor of Georgia citizens and their doctors, which would seriously endanger the profits of the industry he has been representing.
The insurance companies are really going to miss him when he no longer has their back, but I won’t.
Will Jones - Atlanta
September 3rd, 2009
10:40 pm
A year or two ago Chip Rogers was big in the news and scheduling a hearing against illegal immigration.
Sharing his supposed concern, I called to thank him and told him of my copy of a published stratagem for taking over the U.S. by promoting illegal immigration called “The National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry,” by the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops (available at the Library of Congress or on Amazon.com).
It details the policies and practices, legal and political the Roman Catholic Church is employing to accomplish their stated goal. Like having a signed confession of a conspiracy.
He said his secretary would call me the next day to set up an appointment.
Still waiting for her call…
He must be more “Gay Old Pervert” than Baptist or Freemason. Wonder why Woodstock keeps him?
Hopefully State Sen. Chapman is more Georgian and American than “Republican.”
ghostwriter
September 4th, 2009
4:47 am
Say guys, didn’t your cohorts in the GOP, Johnny Isakson and Phil Gingrey, vote for that federal expansion into healthcare called the prescription drug benefit plan?
Chris Murphy, Atlanta, GA
September 4th, 2009
7:47 am
The tenth amendment reads:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
How come everyone, including the author of the article and the politicians, somehow never includes those last four words?
Tea
September 4th, 2009
8:02 am
Contending Medicare is unconstitutional is the same as contending our socialized police force, fire protection, water, transportation and all other socialized institutions also be considered unconstitutional. Would opponants of health care reform want to do away with those socialized instuitutions as well?
Reality
September 4th, 2009
8:15 am
Are we really surprised? Georgia and other former confederate states ignored the 14th amendment until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forced their hands.
JohnD
September 4th, 2009
8:21 am
Sounds like Chip Rogers wants to form a GOP Death Panel for Senior Citizens. Got money? You can live. Don’t have money? Too bad, so sad.
Way to go Chip. You’re building a GOP bridge to the 16th century.
William
September 4th, 2009
8:23 am
Reality
September 4th, 2009
8:15 am
Do you remember that it was democrats whose hands had to be forced?
William
September 4th, 2009
8:29 am
You keep saying the word “socialized” and there is where you are losing the battle with the people. Get rid of tort and you can buy cheaper insurance across state lines. Oh that is right the lawyers donate large amounts of money to the liberal causes. Can not bite the hands that feed you. If not for the tort, John Edwards would a middle class citizen.
I doubt It
September 4th, 2009
8:42 am
I hope all you health care reformers will be the first to open your wallets and buy your fellow Georgians insurance. it won’t take more than an hour to pick someone and purchase them an insurance policy. So, how about putting YOUR money where your mouth is? Wait, you want somebody else to pay? Typical.
Hoof Hearted
September 4th, 2009
8:47 am
You folks who keep buying into the “tort reform” argument are sadly misled. Georgia passed major tort reform legislation in 2005 with many promises from the medical malpractice insurers in our state of significant savings to their insureds (doctors). Have the doctors seen their malpractice premiums decrease? If so, have the doctors have passed on those savings to patients in the way of lower costs for healthcare? I think everyone knows the truth.
Songbird
September 4th, 2009
8:53 am
Idiots like these two continue to make me embarrassed to live in this state. When I moved here 25 years ago I loved it, but the republican takeover has ruined it for me. These guys make the state look like a ship of fools and we’re certainly not all fools, it’s just they get the press coverage.
glenn
September 4th, 2009
9:05 am
If you got tort reform & could purchase insurance across state lines , the price of healthcare coverage would still be skyrocketing . Its pretty well known . That being said I’m all for it . Maybe we could even go to a ” loser pays ” litigation system like most countries in socialist Europe have .
William K
September 4th, 2009
9:08 am
According to the US Census Bureau, average Life Expectancy in the US has increased by over 2 years since 1999. If there is a healthcare CRISIS, why are we living longer?
harry8
September 4th, 2009
9:10 am
Tom Price’s town hall meeting shows he is still part of the problem and not working for real healthcare reform. He wants to make us THE OWNERS of our healthcare insurance. How will that reduce the cost or provide more coverage? We already own it, we pay the premiums; the cost keeps going up, but the plans cover less.
Tom and his business partners, the insurance companies, only care about profit and how to make more of it. He thinks by throwing around terms like socialist and communist we’ll forget how bad the system is now. Most people either have their own horror story dealing with an insurance company or know someone who has been denied coverage or the care they paid for. The insurance companies have had 60 years to do the right thing, but every year it cost more, more claims are denied and more people are dropped just for being sick.
Forget about tort reform, frivolous lawsuits and the well publicized large settlements; they are rare and usually not really paid, but are used to justify the major price increases. Until the insurance monopolies have some real competition from a public plan we will continue to be held hostage by the corporate lobbyist and corrupt public officials.
We need a public Option
September 4th, 2009
9:10 am
@Hoof Hearted:
We would apreciate if you stop giving us facts. We like to argue about trivial untrue stuff like “Death panel” and issues like governmnet should keep their hands of medicare.
Thank you
William K
September 4th, 2009
9:32 am
If you already OWN your healthcare insurance and are not satisfied with the price or coverage, fire them and buy someone else. But wait, your employer probably controls who you can buy. They do this because the government gives them tax incentives to do so. If everyone were free to buy their OWN insurance at the same advantage as employers, then if a company were to create “horrors”, they would shortly be out of business.
dgroy
September 4th, 2009
9:42 am
I believe in States Rights and while I have been a reciepent of Medicare funded health care, I believe that States Rights should trump any effort on the part of our federal bureauracracy to force upon us a health care plan that, obviously, the majority of Americans do not support. Folks, the next several years are gonna be tough and it’s my opinion that states need to stand up and invoke this right that we have. That’s the only way that our bureaucrats are gonna understand that we want less meddling in our lives. I understand that there are people in our country without health insurance and I am sympathetic to their plight; however, another way must be found, other than ObamaCare, to help those affected. Unless we stop this idiocy, we will be living in a socialistic society in a few years……I don’t think that would serve us well.
stands for decibels
September 4th, 2009
10:32 am
Unless we stop this idiocy, we will be living in a socialistic society in a few years…
Best case scenario for me, worst for you I guess, would be a single payer health insurance plan covering all Americans, administered by the states, pretty much like they’ve had now in Canada for over 30 years.
Do tell, is Canada a “socialist” state? Because I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of free-enterprisin’ going on up there.
William K
September 4th, 2009
10:38 am
Can a doctor or nurse in Canada set the price for her or his services?
Can a hospital in Canada charge an amount to pay for the latest diagnostic equipment?
The best healthcare is expensive.
William K
September 4th, 2009
10:40 am
When insurance pays for expected occurances, it is not insurance.
stands for decibels
September 4th, 2009
10:41 am
The best healthcare is expensive.
I don’t really give a rip about the “best healthcare”, frankly, because I’ve seen little to support the notion that this will make a lick of difference in my life. I’d much rather improve access and affordability to all of our citizens and let some other country get suckered into funding all the cool new tools.
Except, no other country will, because nobody else’s citizens are collectively stupid enough to do what we’ve allowed our nation to do to us.
mw
September 4th, 2009
11:04 am
Here’s a quote from another “States Righter” –
“In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”
William K
September 4th, 2009
12:32 pm
I agree, “nobody else’s citizens are collectively stupid enough to do what we’ve allowed our nation to do to us.” I only hope enough citizens are not foolish enough to trust their health to that national government… Then again maybe there’s something to that “survival of the fittest”, if not in a biological sense then perhaps in the original economic one.
M Gates
September 4th, 2009
1:05 pm
At the risk of sounding like a socialist, I support having a public insurance option. You won’t convince me that this will cost Americans more money, because I believe our nation is already paying for these health care services. We pay the taxes when we incarcerate our mentally ill. We pay higher medical costs to compensate for the uninsured heart attack victim. And we’re paying when Medicare or Medicaid kicks in to cover a grave illness that may have been avoided with accessible preventive care. A Public Option should be part of a larger reform bill. Unfortunately, Georgia’s elected member plan to pack up their marbles, and quit playing. Who’s whining now?
retiredds
September 4th, 2009
1:41 pm
I doubt it @ 8:42, your wallet is already open. Anyone who does not have insurance can go to an ER and be treated. Who do you think pays for that? So, what’s your point?
retiredds
September 4th, 2009
1:59 pm
William K, I guess all those Vets and Medicare folks don’t trust the government to provide their health care. Should they all back out, now, and go to a private insurer. OOOPS I forgot about pre-existing conditions.
William K
September 4th, 2009
2:18 pm
The problem is that no matter whether I spend everything I have on my healthcare or evrything I have on my neighbors healthcare, eventually all of us will still get sick and die. I know this is fatalistic and that life expectancy is increasing, but with the undeterminable time that I have, I would rather choose how I live than let the government decide.
stands for decibels
September 4th, 2009
3:21 pm
I know this is fatalistic and that life expectancy is increasing, but with the undeterminable time that I have, I would rather choose how I live than let the government decide.
You really don’t get that a government supplied health insurance program wouldn’t require you to choose a certain way to live, right? Has that not yet sunk in?
Will Jones - Atlanta
September 4th, 2009
4:24 pm
The same Mammon-worshippers who object to being a sovereign individual making up The People – E Pluribus Unum, recognizing that their dividend and bonus checks from the present system would be adversely affected by a single payer national healthcare system, like New Zealand’s or Canada’s, are part of the same faction which yet vainly considers taboo discussion of the proven treason of 9/11, committed by Bush and Cheney, or that Bush’s father and Nixon killed John Kennedy.
They are allergic to truth because their lives are lies.
Annuit Coeptis is Our Creed’s first Motto. America must do what is right and good. Those who openly admit their contempt for the lives of their less fortunate fellow Americans are honest, beneath contempt, and G-dless.
MBW
September 4th, 2009
7:38 pm
Hey Republicans— If you really hate government-run health care, why don’t you just grow a pair and unite behind a plan to eliminate Medicare???
Until you vote to eliminate Medicare, your ’socialist’ bull-sheet is just hypocritical garbage.
dmac
September 5th, 2009
12:14 pm
The Republicans have acted stupidly, again.
As Constitutional expert, Professor Jonathon Turley of George Washington University pointed out; Hill’s use of the tenth amendment for the purpose of rejecting a law that doesn’t exist is absurd. Also, Turley says it’s nonsensical for Hill to seek to change Georgia’s constitution when he claims that the 10th amendment of the US constitution already gives Georgia the right to reject a federal health care program.
SWGA Politics » Blog Archive » Georgia Health Care Constitutional Amendment
September 9th, 2009
1:28 pm
[...] Hill), this one from the AJC’s Gold Dome Live blog (Aaron Gould Sheinin and others), and this one from AJC’s Political Insider blog (Jim Galloway) Tags: healthcare, Judson Hill, States’ [...]
Could the States Nullify a Public Option? « Submitted to a Candid World
September 29th, 2009
8:31 am
[...] implications. If a public option violated the Tenth Amendment, Medicare probably would too, and good luck getting re-elected on that [...]