Archive

July 19th, 2012

House proposes defunding much of Obamacare—including the HHS Mandate

Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT)

Wednesday, a House Appropriations subcommittee approved a funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services that would defund much of Obamacare. According to the Committee, the cuts will save $8.6 billion in 2013 and $123 billion in the next five years. Read more »

July 16th

Inspector General: CDC appears to have encouraged use of federal funds for illegal lobbying

Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, Dept. of Health and Human Services

Federal stimulus grants may have been used illegally to lobby for changes in state and local laws at the encouragement of the Obama Administration. So says an "EARLY ALERT" report of the Office of Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Read more »

June 29th

How will the states respond?

Attribution: All rights reserved by Governor of Virginia

The Supreme Court has ruled that Obamacare unconstitutionally threatened to withhold current Medicaid spending to states that refuse to implement Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

Now the question is whether states will accept Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid eligibility and the billions in federal funds that go with it. Read more »

June 28th

How the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare today

Attribution: Some rights reserved by tedeytan

The Supreme Court ruled both for and against Obamacare today. Here's a brief synopsis. Read more »

June 26th

If Obamacare overturned, what happens to all the money?

Attribution: Some rights reserved by Images_of_Money

The Wall Street Journal has confirmed what the attorneys in our office at Americans for Limited Government have been debating for some time. If Obamacare is overturned what happens to all of the grant money that has already been given away? Read more »

The little-known issue in the Supreme Court’s Obamacare case

Attribution: Some rights reserved by Eric Fischer

In 1819, Senator Daniel Webster famously said that the power to “tax, without limit or control, is . . . a power to destroy.” This logic persuaded the Supreme Court that the states, as “co-equal” “sovereignties” with the federal government, could not impose taxes on federal institutions. On Thursday, as 26 states sue the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court will decide a similar issue. The question before the Supreme Court is whether the Obama Administration can refuse all Medicaid funds to states that do not implement Obamacare’s massive expansion of Medicaid. The states say no. Americans for Limited Government agrees. Read more »

June 20th

What happens if the Supreme Court upholds Obamacare’s individual mandate?

Attribution: Franz Jantzen

Despite all of the predictions and rumors of its impending demise, it is still a possibility that Obamacare’s individual mandate may be upheld.

As Justice Ginsberg said this week, “Those who know don’t talk. And those who talk don’t know.”

Not even Paul Clement the lead counsel against Obamacare was willing to venture a guess. He said, “[T]he way that it was structured doesn’t allow you to draw conclusions the way that you might have been able to draw conclusions if it had been sort of a four hour free-for-all.”

So, if the individual mandate is upheld, where does that leave us as a nation? Read more »

June 19th

What happens if the Supreme Court only overturns Obamacare in part?

Attribution: Some rights reserved by Mark Fischer

Unless the Supreme Court changes its schedule, it will hand down a decision on the constitutionality of Obamacare’s “individual mandate” either this Thursday or the following Monday. If the Court finds Obamacare’s individual mandate unconstitutional, then the question will be how much of Obamacare will it overturn, or “sever” from, the law. Read more »

June 18th

What happens if the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare?

Attribution: Some rights reserved by Phil Roeder

Last March's oral arguments before the Supreme Court over Obamacare caught liberals off guard. Up until that point liberals had assumed that there was little chance of Obamacare being overturned. But after hearing Solicitor General Donald Verrilli seemingly stumble in his arguments and after hearing the strength of the arguments against the individual mandate, liberals began to freak out.

For the sake of liberty—and if there are ever to be any constraints on federal power—Obamacare must be overturned. But if people are harmed by the overturning of Obamacare, Obama will have no right to decry the injustice of it. Read more »

June 5th

Obama Administration Signals that Small Businesses May Not Get to Keep Their Self-Insured Health Plans.

Image:Some rights reserved by Beijing Patrol

Imagine that, in order to increase competition among grocery stores, the government created local farmers’ markets all across the country. Anyone could sell food within these farmers’ markets—including the grocery stores. But when the grocery stores refused to participate, the government enacted regulations to force them to do so. Thus, what was meant to encourage competition instead became the means of suppressing it.

Similarly, the Obama Administration has signaled that it may create new regulations in order to protect Obamacare’s online health insurance marketplaces called Health Insurance Exchanges. Despite Obama’s promise that if you like your health plan you can keep it, some small businesses may not be able to keep their self-insured health plans if the Obama Administration has its way. Read more »