While the government’s health care initiative moves from the House to the Senate, the heated debate about this legislation continues across the country both at town hall meetings and people’s kitchen tables.
Many ask if it is even constitutional for the United States government to require its citizens to carry insurance. According to article one, section eight of the U.S. Constitution, “The Congress shall have power to...” and lists multiple items the government has the power to do like print money, establish the post office and regulate commerce with foreign countries. It does not list Social Security, Medicare or universal health care, currently under debate, in that list.
The Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
Under strict interpretation, this says anything not specifically listed should not fall under the federal government’s power, but under the state’s government and ultimately, its residents. Many legal constitutional scholars feel requiring health care does not fall under the auspices of the federal government.
This debate over government mandated and required health care will surely persist and no one knows where it will end, but it will certainly continue to be an interesting discussion.
