Obamacare v. Roseveltcare, It Ain't Broccoli

Having been tasked for over twenty years with buying and administrating health insurance for small businesses, the health care debate and Supreme Court case and arguments have been of close interest to me.

Something must be done about US health care.  The cost is too great when compared to health care systems in other countries.  That is the premise.  But what can be done?

With one in eight US employees employed by the health care industry, the stakes are high and the chance for a true political answer low, as Hillary Clinton found out in the early 90's when she attempted to reform healthcare as a part of a promise from her husband's first campaign.  So I applaud the Obama administration for passing ANYTHING regarding improving health care.

But with so many interest involved, the Affordable Care Act is not perfect. But it is all we got and maybe our only chance to turn the cost of health care around.

Buying health care is not like buying broccoli.  Why would learned Justices even make such a comparison?  You might not like broccoli or paying for heath care, but you don't show up at the emergency room needing broccoli to live.  And that is the rub.  Until we endorse letting those people who need heath care but do not have coverage simply die instead of receiving care, our current system of paying for health care will be flawed and wrong.  No civilized society can endorse such a poor moral solution.  So we have profit v. the good of all debate.

Buying health care is more like buying retirement.  As some point, if you live long enough, you are going to need health care.  You are going to need retirement.  You are not going to need broccoli.

The Affordable Care Act tries to address this issue by mandating that all persons purchase health care.  The act has done this, not by a tax that creates a large federal agency to run heathcare, but by using the private health care market.

So is this the real debate?  The US Government can force us all to pay a tax that creates a large government bureaucracy (Social Security) but can't force us to buy a product in the free market?  If that is the Supreme Court ruling then look for the new era of Big Government.

How could conservative justices endorse such a ruling?