Friday, September 18, 2009

Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate

To continue our discussion of constitutionality from last night, as applied to health care. Here are a couple articles that present both sides of the argument.

Constitutional: http://www.slate.com/id/2224258 (Professor - notice the reference to Amar)

Unconstitutional: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574416623109362480.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

4 comments:

evan said...

If Rivkin and Casey know what they're talking about, why hasn't someone sued away Medicare yet?

TJE said...

Medicare is voluntary.

TJE said...

Amar rules!

TJE said...

Correction. Part B is voluntary. Payroll taxes support Part A, which all social security recipients get at age 65. The difference, I think Rivkin and Casey would argue, is that current proposals would either mandate insurance or tax non-compliance. I don't know enough to judge the merits of their argument.