Powerline makes the obvious point that
Romneycare affords us a glimpse into the not very distant future if Obamacare is not repealed. Employers are dumping their health care plans. The governor is essentially attempting to impose price controls on insurers. If the governor is successful, insurers would just throw in the towel. When that happens under Obamacare, we will take our nationalized medicine straight. Just about every talking point Obama used to peddle Obamacare is a falsehood. Obamacare designates the fee imposed on individuals for failure to comply with its insurance mandate a penalty. The legislation justifies the penalty under the government’s power to regulate commerce. Obama himself flatly denied that the penalty was a tax.
However, for legal reasons, the Obama administration is beating a retreat on this key point. Randy Barnett points out that administration officials are now changing their tune. They are telling the New York Timesthat the individual insurance “requirement” and “penalty” are really an exercise of the congressional tax power.
Unfortunately, we have many more such “surprises” to look forward to if Obamacare survives.
