On June 25, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in the governments’ favor in King versus Burwell. This case sought to undermine and destroy the ACA (Affordable Care Act) on the basis of a very narrow reading of the statute’s wording about federal tax subsidies used to help fund premiums for folks who obtain health insurance through an insurance cooperative setup through a state. They argued this credit could not or should not be available to any who purchased coverage through a cooperative set up by the federal government. The plaintiff’s argument reminded me of childish logic from the playground – ah, ah, ah – that’s exactly what you said. A very strict and literal interpretation of the meaning of the wording in the statute, twisted as conservatives are wont to do, to try and circumvent the obvious intent of the law, which was to extend affordable health insurance coverage to the millions of uninsured. Had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the likely result would have been millions of Americans losing their health insurance. The human cost does not matter to conservatives, because any compassion they may have, as Bush the Younger alleged, is outweighed by their obsessive hatred of President Obama.
Thankfully reason prevailed, with only the three most jadedly “conservative” justices, Scalia, Thomas and Alito, siding with the plaintiff. The majority decision ruled that a narrow reading of the wording could not be used to invalidate the obvious intent of the law – to extend coverage to the millions of uninsured that the previous state of the healthcare market had allowed. So millions can remain covered because twisted conservative logic was not allowed to prevail. The spirit of the law, rather than the letter, prevailed.
We celebrate this as a victory for the people who would have been devastated by the loss of their recently gained health insurance. Conservatives would have cruelly ripped it away from them while offering no reasonable alternative, just to be able to find another way to diminish President Obama. It is sad to see a political party that dominates the landscape of our nation’s capital being fixated on only one thing - hating the man sitting in the Oval Office.
So we liberals celebrate a Supreme Court victory for Obamacare. At the same time, we have to temper our celebration with the knowledge that we have preserved a law that was forged in conservative think tanks. Obamacare is, by and large, the product of Republican thinking, a “market-based solution” to a problem that is really moral and societal. We are celebrating a victory for what has become the norm – middle class America gratefully accepting the crumbs from the table of the One Percent. God forbid we diminish the capacity for corporate profits to rule the day.
We can do better than the Affordable Care Act. I do not mean to disrespect our President and his efforts to improve healthcare for millions. Barack Obama is ever the pragmatist. He knew if he was to make any substantive change in this area, something like the ACA was going to have the best chance. He miscalculated the opposition – thought he might win over at least some. He didn’t understand the extent of the right wing radicalization that has overtaken the Republican Party. We can do better for America – it is called Single Payer. People before corporate profits. If America doesn’t grasp this fundamental reality soon, we face a grim future on many fronts.
Tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more. I’d Love to Change the World - Ten Years After
