GOP Ex-Attorneys General Back Virginia Health Care Reform Lawsuit

RICHMOND, Va. — Three former U.S. attorneys general are supporting Virginia's lawsuit challenging the federal health care reform law.

A friend-of-the-court brief filed Tuesday by Republicans William Barr, Edwin Meese and Dick Thornburgh supports Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's claim that Congress lacks authority to require citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The insurance mandate is the chief issue in Virginia's lawsuit.

The former attorneys general wrote that if the government can force citizens to buy health insurance, there's nothing to stop it from requiring Americans to buy a General Motors car or take out a mortgage.

The Justice Department, which is defending the health care law, had no comment on the brief.

Comments

[Edward Standley]

12:59 PM on 10/13/2010

Compares health insurance to the forced purchase of a car? What a twit. Line 'em up, knock 'em down. Fed judge in Michigan has already tossed out the first.

[DevonTexas]

12:24 PM on 10/13/2010

"there's nothing to stop it from requiring Americans to buy a General Motors car or take out a mortgage."

Well, when GM finds a cure for cancer, that may not be a bad idea. In other words, there's a big difference between health insurance and an automobile. It's apples and oranges.

[DTSLW]

11:29 AM on 10/13/2010

Insurance is all about covering for risk. I lived in Nevada, It's called covering your bets and it's always good business.

Of course, I'd get health insurance if the damned policy was affordable and actually covered health issues.

[daybranch]

09:54 AM on 10/13/2010

Yep, that same government that taxes corporations. Why stop there , get rid of all taxes. Fund defense with donations from the rich, Yep that will work.
This is stupid. The repubs want to remove every thing from the social safety net of this country. We dems must be outraged at this attack on our humanity and concern for others. Stop the party of greed from destroying the middle class or at least the little left of it. Vote dem and get your children and friends out to vote dem too.

[behindEnemyLines]

09:44 AM on 10/13/2010

I am so surprised by how fast you on the left became such fans of private insurance companies. So much so that you are ok with being forced to buy coverage from them. Those same companies Nancy Pelosi said were immoral. Was it not Keith Olberman who said he would not be forced to buy insurance from a private company? Over his dead body remember. Now you guys come on this site and defend a mandate that if introduced by a GOP president would have you up in arms. There would be accusations of corporate welfare to the GOP HC buddies. But Obama passed it so it's ok.

There is another point I would like to bring up. For those of you who are saying we are already mandated to buy HC through Medicare you are wrong. Medicare is a TAX. A tax we pay to provide seniors with Healthcare coverage. The difference is the HCR mandate is forcing you to buy a product from a PRIVATE company. Unlike Car insurance, which you only need to purchase if you have a car, if you are breathing and are American you need to buy this product. So what is stopping the Gov from mandating you buy food insurance? What is stopping them from mandating what type of automobile you must buy? This is why this mandate is unconstitutional.

[seldoc]

10:02 AM on 10/13/2010

All the more reason that Medicare for all makes sense. But no, I'm sure you wouldn't like that either. Refusing to face up to the catastrophic problems facing our health care system is not going to make them go away.

As far as your second point goes. I have one question. Who pays the bill when someone without health insurance walks into the emergency room. Why, it's you, me and everyone else who has insurance, and the impact is not minor. The false comparison you try to draw by talking about food insurance and being force to buy a car hold no water, and my bet is you're smart enough to know it.

[behindEnemyLines]

10:11 AM on 10/13/2010

And you are smart enough to understand precedent.

You say it is the tax payer who flips the bill for emergency room cost for the uninsured and you have a problem with that, yet you call for Medicare for all. In essence paying for someone else’s healthcare. Second what is to stop the gov from forcing you to buy Food insurance using the same argument? Food stamps are paid for with tax payer money, so why not force people to get the insurance incase the economy crashes again.

Why not mandate people to only buy American. We need more jobs. Unemployment is now being paid for by the tax payer due to all the extensions.

Get it. It's the precedent being set that the gov has the authority to make you buy products from private companies

[ChiBloger]

10:05 AM on 10/13/2010

Hey Behind, “how fast you on the left became such fans of private insurance companies. So much so that you are ok with being forced to buy coverage from them.”
You mean like the auto insurance we are already required to buy? Sounds like settled law to me.
And no progressives have no love for Health Insurance companies. They are the ones putting their il gotten gains in to Republican pockets. Keeping them around was a questionable compromise. Most Progressives perfer a single payer model that did not make Healthcare CEO’s billionaires.

[behindEnemyLines]

10:14 AM on 10/13/2010

You only need to buy auto insurance if you own a car. People who do not own a car are not forced to buy the insurance. BIG DIFFERENCE

Second it is you progressives who are defending this mandate. It is us on the right who are fighting against it. Why are you defending something that will only make the insurance CEO's even more rich?

[WhatDaBleep]

09:40 AM on 10/13/2010

I expected this - old WHITE republicans trying to stop something that can help all Americans and not just them. What would be interesting is to check out these guys stock holdings - I bet the real secrets lay there.

[barney123]

09:38 AM on 10/13/2010

Kenny Cuccinelli is an embarassment to Virginia and would do anything to stay in the media spotlight as he wants to be governor and climb that political ladder. Shame on him for not helping Virginians move forward instead of backwards.

[ChiBloger]

10:06 AM on 10/13/2010

From outside of Virginia, that is exactly how he looks.

[grf67]

08:18 AM on 10/13/2010

This is, I expect, Ed Meese of Iran Contra fame. And why would anyone listen to him. He is yesterday's republican crime trying to get back into the news.

[BBackSoon]

10:02 AM on 10/13/2010

You beat me to it.

[cybersense]

06:40 AM on 10/13/2010

OH MY, you mean you don't want to tell people how to live their lives? My goodness - what about that religion issue? What about telling gay people that can't marry?

Car insurance is law. Health insurance is more important. you don't have to drive, but you live and get sick. I think, a person should pay what they can afford to pay and have the opportunity to see a doctor or go to the hospital if something should happen. Why should everyone pay for that cost in the back end? It's a real cost across this nation, one we should budget for ahead of time. Good planning, and fair to those who most definately get sick or hurt at some point.

In Minnesota, 3M is actually using this new program in a better way. They are giving their retiree's a lump sum of money to put towards their insurance costs. They can use that money in any way they want, and that includes paying for their medical. They get to choose what insurance they want, and for those who do not make enough - they will be able to pay for additional insurance over and beyond what they get on medicare. This does help the company, but it also supports the retired worker - even if that worker didn't make a whole lot.

[keepemhonest]

06:53 AM on 10/13/2010

Great post .. but you left out the mandatory health care that people have been "forced" to buy for decades - Medicare

From every legal penny a person makes they are "mandated" to pay into Medicare Insurance that the person can NOT even enroll in until they are 65.

Medicare IS health insurance - mandated by the government that HAS withstood legal challenges.

[cybersense]

07:07 AM on 10/13/2010

Thank you Keepemhonest.

[thecoffeegod]

09:31 AM on 10/13/2010

It amazes me how that little factoid slips past most teabaggers.

[RaleighNC]

06:31 AM on 10/13/2010

Virginia's lawsuit challenging the federal health insurance mandate will fail.

We are already mandated to purchase other insurance from the federal government, namely Social Security. Yes, Social Security is insurance, not a retirement program.

Social Security is also known as FICA (Federal INSURANCE Contributions Act) and as OASDI (Old-Age, Survivors, And Disability INSURANCE).

When Social Security was created, the age of benefit was higher than average life expectancy. The Old-Age benefit was meant as insurance against living to an age older than when one could physically work.

The Survivor benefit insures your spouse/children against you dying and leaving them without income. The Disability benefit insures you and your spouse/children against you being unable to work and provide income.

All three of these benefits prevent you and your family from becoming a public charge by requiring you to pay for their insurance. Paying for insurance (social, health, auto, etc.) is what responsible adults do to avoid being a burden on their neighbors and friends should something unexpected occur. (Even Mitt Romney says this responsibility is a conservative value)

Check your yearly statement from the Social Security Administration.

[bwestleyj]

06:05 AM on 10/13/2010

You know, I just love partisan politics. Not. Just a few short years ago, when the former Republican Senator, Bob Dole, had put forth health care legislation; it was overwhelmingly supported by the current Republican leadership. The ironic thing is this legislation included a mandate for all citizens to have health insurance. Did these same people forget that they supported the mandate? or, is it that only Republicans can offer mandates to the American people? This is not like buying car or securing a mortgage for home ownership. Health care is simply not available to the citizens of America without some form of all-inclusive system to support the medical service industry. Though I am in support of a single-payer system, like the rest of the civilized world, mandating health care insurance (via the HCR Act) is the only other viable option. Private insurance is literally just making a few people very wealthy; and, many others (especially the poorest of us) lacking for the health services they desperately need at an economical cost.

[keepemhonest]

06:54 AM on 10/13/2010

Indeed!

[pep1]

08:41 AM on 10/13/2010

Never forget that the senate/house have some of the best health coverage available. They are beyond clueless about what it is like to need health services...I know many people who can't even get the basics.

[AbstractImp]

06:01 AM on 10/13/2010

Because it's nothing about health care,
and all about politics.

[schnauzergirl]

09:43 AM on 10/13/2010

Ba-zinga!

[Shadow Weaver]

05:35 AM on 10/13/2010

Reconciliation bills are always popular.

[keepemhonest]

06:56 AM on 10/13/2010

FAIL ... that is your grade for current history.

It did not get passed via "reconciliation."

The House passed the bill.
The Senate passed the bill.
Then, the House passed the Senate bill
um... keep up

[Shadow Weaver]

07:02 AM on 10/13/2010

hr4872, the opening for hr3590, was not a Reconciliation bill?

[Shadow Weaver]

07:07 AM on 10/13/2010

hr4872 was not? http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4872

[bart4u]

05:35 AM on 10/13/2010

I think we should take away all the health care from these men and let them see what the real world is like. Insurance companies play with your life and they decide who is to live . Can we call them evil. I think we can.

[hoobit]

03:27 AM on 10/13/2010

"The former attorneys general wrote that if the government can force citizens to buy health insurance, there's nothing to stop it from requiring Americans to buy a General Motors car or take out a mortgage."


...which is why they are FORMER attorneys general. Their 'comparisons' are totally off the mark; apples and oranges.

Hmmm...maybe these former attorneys general will argue that since it's super wrong to demand all citizens purchase healthcare insurance and therefore the government can't order them to do so, the ONLY viable solution to the dilemma is to go the single payer route..

All things considered, universal healthcare sounds pretty good, no, Mr. Former Attorneys General who have all the healthcare *you* need while millions and millions in this nation have none? What you say, old pharts, want to champion a *real* solution to our *on going* healthcare crisis?

[iisguy]

04:36 AM on 10/13/2010

Former as in appointed by Bush and part of the Rovian plans to take over the country through the judical system by destroying the court sytem and turning it into a polictical force as in the Bush v Core and People United?

[TParrish]

07:42 AM on 10/13/2010

Well, it makes sense. If there is a challenge to the result of a political campaign, who gets to decide it? It worked great for W in 2000, why not try to rig the entire country's judicial system?

[pep1]

08:43 AM on 10/13/2010

Mr. Former Atty General ... OK pull out of Medicare, go on the private insurance market and see how much you pay or if you can get insurance at all. Then you will have some vague idea what we go through everyday.