It is the best of times, if you are an Obamacare supporter. It is the
worst of times, if you are against it.
Or is it? Commentators have pointed out that this was a very complex ruling, and it will be a while before everything is sorted out. Some, like State's TOM Scocca, are asking whether defecting and swinging the vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act was a “canny” move on the part of Chief Justice Roberts to restrict regulatory power under the commerce clause. Randy Barnett calls this ''a weird victory for federalism'',Richard Epstein''claims that Roberts’ argument that going without health insurance is now something the government can tax “like buying gasoline or earning income” is ''little short of absurd'' ,” It will be a while before this is all untangled.
I asked a number of people for reactions to the decision. A former student acknowledged that this was extreme short-run thinking but said that he was happy with the ruling because it meant that some of his friends would have health insurance. He also acknowledged the “awful sustainability” of the program because “as with most government programs, it can essentially be funded by force.” Others were unhappy because it opens the gates for a more radical expansion of what the economist Justin Wolfers has called ''the least socially productive part of our economy---the lobbying industry'' ,” A physician responded to my Twitter request for reactions with a discussion of how he and a number of other physicians he knew were planning to cut back on the services they supplied in anticipation of incomes that would be insufficient to make the “effort and risk” worthwhile.
Or is it? Commentators have pointed out that this was a very complex ruling, and it will be a while before everything is sorted out. Some, like State's TOM Scocca, are asking whether defecting and swinging the vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act was a “canny” move on the part of Chief Justice Roberts to restrict regulatory power under the commerce clause. Randy Barnett calls this ''a weird victory for federalism'',Richard Epstein''claims that Roberts’ argument that going without health insurance is now something the government can tax “like buying gasoline or earning income” is ''little short of absurd'' ,” It will be a while before this is all untangled.
I asked a number of people for reactions to the decision. A former student acknowledged that this was extreme short-run thinking but said that he was happy with the ruling because it meant that some of his friends would have health insurance. He also acknowledged the “awful sustainability” of the program because “as with most government programs, it can essentially be funded by force.” Others were unhappy because it opens the gates for a more radical expansion of what the economist Justin Wolfers has called ''the least socially productive part of our economy---the lobbying industry'' ,” A physician responded to my Twitter request for reactions with a discussion of how he and a number of other physicians he knew were planning to cut back on the services they supplied in anticipation of incomes that would be insufficient to make the “effort and risk” worthwhile.
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