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Notes to myself, possibly of interest to others.
-- Bill Northlich

Friday, June 29, 2012

ACA Decision Actually Bad For The Country?

Via Naked Capitalism, a piece which notes that the technicality upon which Roberts allowed the ACA to pass sets a couple of bad precedents.
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There are implications for the role of the State as we have understood it from the New Deal onward; what Phillip Bobbitt would call a change a Constitutional Order:
The rejection of the Commerce Clause and Nec. and Proper Clause should be understood as a major blow to Congress’s authority to pass social welfare laws.
There is the new Constitutional Order:
Using the tax code — especially in the current political environment — to promote social welfare is going to be a very chancy proposition 
Finally, Using the tax code to optimize rental extraction— in this case, by health insurance companies — is the very essence of Cass, Sunstein et al’s. Nudge Theory
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(Vitus here)
Ie, ACA is set up to assure private insurance companies, the only purpose of which is to basically embezzle health care dollars at all levels*, an assured future. And, doing this, we get further away, not closer to, an actual efficient healthcare system without embezzlement built in. See The Political Genius of John Roberts, below.

*Medicare spends 5% of each health care dollar on administrative expenses, compared with the 17% consumed by private insurers for other things like marketing, executive salaries, and profit. link.

Update: Ok, "Health Insurance" companies do do some useful things, like organize, to some extent, one's health delivery system. But Hey! - there's an app for that! At least for Drugs

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