Hips From The Favor Bank?

Will the time ever come when we’ll need a political favor for a hip replacement? Will we have to pay a bribe, I mean make a campaign contribution to move up on the waiting list for an MRI, or to get treatment for late-stage cancer? I hope not but, if current trends continue the possibility isn’t far-fetched. Not only has Obamacare has been a catastrophe only two-and-a-half months in, implementation has been riddled with unlawful edicts and political favoritism for Democrat constituents.

Taking the most recent example first: On November 25th Obama exempted his union buddies from paying their share of the $12 billion “reinsurance tax” for 2014. Five weeks earlier, the liberal magazine Slate wrote: “Labor essentially asked the Obama administration to exempt their existing insurance plans from the fee. Since [their request] . . .  had no particular merits to it the administration declined.” That was then. This is now. Slate doesn’t even question whether a president has the constitutional authority to pick and choose what parts of legislation he’ll enforce and which he won’t.

Well he doesn’t have that authority. Article II requires him to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” He can’t change them anytime he feels like it, but that’s what he does. Earlier this year, he unconstitutionally put off Obamacare’s employer mandate for a year because he knew it would hurt Democrats in the 2014 election. He exempts Congressmen and their staffs who wrote the legislation. He doesn’t enforce immigration laws he doesn’t like either. When Congress didn’t pass an amnesty bill he wanted called the “Dream Act,” he issued an executive fiat instead. There are other examples too numerous to mention.

The bottom line is: when our president can decide for himself which laws he’ll enforce and which ones he won’t, we’re not a nation of laws anymore are we? Not when the president places himself above the law. When he took over General Motors and Chrysler, he stiffed bondholders, fired dealers, ordered GM to produce Chevy Volts nobody wants, bailed out the unions, and “stepp[ed] over the bright line between the rule of law and the arbitrary behavior . . .” according to an analysis by George Mason University’s Todd Zywicki called “The Auto Bailout and the Rule of Law.”

So far, Obama get away with wielding unconstitutional power for political gain. Can he do that? Well, there’s can’t and there’s “ain’t supposta.” He’s isn’t supposed to do all this, but clearly he can because he’s doing it. Who’s going to stop him? Congress is supposed to check and balance the president, and the House of Representatives issues subpoenas for documents, information and witnesses, but when Obama stonewalls them, then what? Well, there’s impeachment.

The House has sole power of impeachment, but impeachment means “bring charges against.” The Senate has to decide guilt, and how likely is that while it’s under the control of Senator Harry Reid? And even if Obama were found guilty, the only remedy is to remove him from office. Who would take over then? Vice President Joe Biden, who more and more resembles a cast member from “Dumb and Dumber.” Politically speaking, impeachment isn’t a likely scenario - at this point at least. Unfortunately, that’s the only remedy Congress has to stop the president’s unconstitutional power-grabbing.

 So now back to the original question. Will access to health care become completely politicized? Those signing up for Obamacare are overwhelmingly getting Medicaid - 1.46 million of the 1.6 million signed up so far. More and more doctors are refusing to take on Medicaid patients, so millions will be all dressed up in their new Obamacare policies with no place to go. Unless Obamacare is repealed, some expect the federal government to draft doctors. Kevin Williamson at National Review Online considers it almost inevitable.
 

Millions of others whose health insurance policies were cancelled will have spent weeks on healthcare.gov trying to sign up, think they have, and find out after January 1st that they’re not because of still more healthcare.gov “glitches.” Nearly 100 million others who like their policies and whom Obama promised could keep them will get cancellation notices in 2014. Obamacare will collapse. Then what?

Never one to “let a crisis go to waste,” will Obama take it all over like he did with General Motors? He’s wanted a government, single-payer system all along. Will he appoint Kathleen Sebelius as Healthcare Czar? She who shakes down companies for cash? Can we trust the 16,000 new agents in Obama’s IRS not to harass conservatives as they “implement” Obama’s new health care policies? You may trust them. I do not. If Obamacare isn’t repealed early next year, kissing up to a congressman for a new knee or to get Grammy into a nursing home could be in our future.