Most people expect that it will go to the fourth circuit court of appeals and eventually to the Supreme Court. In his ruling, "It is not the effect on individuals that is presently at issue -- it is the authority of Congress to compel anyone to purchase health insurance," wrote Hudson, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush. "Every application of Commerce Clause power found to be constitutionally sound by the Supreme Court involved some form of action, transaction or deed placed in motion by an individual or legal entity. The constitutional viability of the minimum essential coverage provision in this case turns on whether or not a person's decision to refuse to purchase health care insurance is such an activity," he wrote.
Not that I am against reforming our health care system but Obamacare was the wrong way to go about it. For instance, it does nothing to address costs. It merely addresses coverage for everyone. And there are unintended consequences already cropping up as well. Just recently, pharmaceuticals have announced that they will no longer be able to give deep price discounts on orphan drugs to children's hospitals across the country because of provisions in the law. Orphan drugs are drugs that are used to treat rare conditions that affect less than 200,000 individuals inside the United States. Drugs are classified as Orphan drugs by the FDA. By existing law, orphan drugs must be made available to chidren's hospitals at a deep discount. a few pharmaceuticals lobbied aggressively for the new provision in Obamacare and it was put in at the last minute. So the most vulnerable amongst us, the ones least able to pay for these expensive drugs, have been given the cold shoulder.
Orphan drugs are just one of the many bad aspects of Obamacare. Lets hope that the bill goes down in flames fast as it should. Thank God for Ken Cuccinelli, Judge Henry Hudson, and common sense. The United States needs more heroes like them now.
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