Thursday, November 5, 2009

Beware the Health Insurance Police

In the November 2, 2009 Washington Times, Donald Lambro asks, "Is it constitutional to force Americans to buy coverage?"

As he notes in his piece, "Beware the health insurance police":
Congress has never before required Americans to buy a product or service under penalty of law. Yet that's precisely what the health care bills pending in the House and Senate would do in the age of Obama, despite compelling arguments that the Constitution gives lawmakers no power to do so.
Although the objections to "universal health care" based on Constitutionality are secondary (rather than primary), it is an important issue.

If the government can force you to buy a certain product as a legal requirement of living in the United States, then there's essentially no limit on what it can force people to do.