A Report from Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel’s Founder & Chairman
The Worst Part of ObamaCare is Still Being Revealed as HHS Guidelines are Being Published!
— Special Release —
When President Barack Obama signed into law the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), he said the sweeping bill was due to “historic leadership” and that it was a testament to the “persistence of the American people.” The law is certainly historic. But, like many things in
history, historic doesn’t mean it will be remembered with favor! This law will not conjure up fond memories in the annals of history. The “persistence of the American people” will make sure it does not. Despite changes in the House of Representative in 2010, the challenges to ObamaCare in the U.S. Supreme
Court, and the 2012 election-year, the administration is forging ahead with the implementation of this atrocity. It took legislative manipulation, backroom deals, phony promises, and extreme coercion of Congress by White House arm twisters to pass ObamaCare into law, with the final stroke of the pen by President Obama taking place on March 23, 2010.
If this was not bad enough, the original law passed by Congress contained only the framework for ObamaCare. The “mandates” and “Health and Human Services guidelines” that are now emerging were still unwritten, with unbridled discretion granted to Obama’s unelected Washington bureaucrats. If you thought the original legislation was bad, the steps being set out in implementation will shock you! Fox Nation recently calculated the ObamaCare regulations to contain 2,163,744 words compared to 425,116 words in the ObamaCare statute. So, how long is 2,163,744 words? The King James Version of the Bible contains 830,314 words. That makes the Obama Care regulations two and a half times as long as the Bible! If you add the text of the ObamaCare statutes to its regulations, they are together three times as long as the Bible!
Congress did not even know what was in ObamaCare when they passed it. You may recall then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement: “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Unfortunately, we are now finding out what’s in it as almost daily new HHS rules are being issued from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and other ObamaCare bureaucrats – over 700 new directives so far – without any congressional oversight or accountability at all!
This healthcare law is truly proving to be the most sweeping expansion of government into the private lives of people in the history of America. Congress lacks the
constitutional authority to force every person to buy a product and participate in a market in which they choose not to engage. Despite this, from the very
beginning of the healthcare debate, one thing was clear: individuals would be required to purchase health insurance and employers would be required to pay for it. In the end, all Americans will pay.
OUR FIGHT IS NOT AGAINST HEALTHCARE REFORM: IT’S AGAINST GOVERNMENT TYRANNY!
It’s not that healthcare did not need reform. Clearly every American feels the pinch of ever escalating healthcare costs in one way or another. ObamaCare is not and has never been about reforming an out of control free market healthcare system. It has only ever been about bringing this vital industry under government bureaucrat control. Congress passed an unconstitutional, socialist bill that has begun to cost Americans trillions of dollars!
As Chairman of the Liberty Counsel, I can say there is broad national consensus on key aspects of true healthcare reform. We believe social justice includes
healthcare reform that lowers the cost, increases quality,and expands choice at the greatest convenience, without moving private health decisions from the doctor’s office to Washington bureaucrats. Individual liberties trump government-imposed obligations. We believe that individuals, communities, and doctors in the free market make better health decisions than government mandates. We believe in incentives, not coercion. We oppose funding for abortion. Abortion is not
healthcare.We support the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Life, no matter how young, is not expendable and, no matter how ill or aged, is not to be weighed on a cost-benefit scale. We support conscience laws protecting hospitals and healthcare providers from coerced participation in abortion.
The HHS has just announced that all FDA approved “contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity,” will be provided under ObamaCare without cost in their college/student-based health plans – and for women of college age but not attending school. A minimum of one dollar a month from every ObamaCare participant will help pay for someone’s abortion. The “abortion surcharge” is cleverly hidden in the insurance premium, but not allowed to be listed as a line item, according to HHS rules. Yes, Christian American, this means you are now mandated to pay for abortions!
THE LEFT’S AGGRESSIVE ATTACK ON OUR FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE
Even though the “contraception and abortifacient mandate” has been much in the news recently, I argued there was a mandatory payment for abortion hidden in
ObamaCare during my appearance at the Federal District Court in Lynchburg, Virginia, early in our court battle to stop ObamaCare.
The ObamaCare “mandate” requires even religious employers to pay directly (if self-insured) or indirectly (through their insurance company) for contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion inducing drugs. This mandate collides with religious freedom and the rights of conscience! Here’s the bottom line: The Obama administration has placed its radical abortion agenda above the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This administration does not care about the Constitution or your rights to conscience and free exercise of religion The life-ending mandates contained in ObamaCare (for the pre-born – and in the “death panels”) are truly despicable. Unfortunately, the mandates of which we are now aware are only the beginning of what will happen if ObamaCare remains the healthcare system of our nation.We support health insurance that is affordable and portable.We support legal reform to stop frivolous lawsuits that drive up
healthcare costs, while affording the injured appropriate compensation. We support portability, allowing people to take their healthcare with them so it is not tied to employment. We support options to purchase health insurance across state lines.We support competition; coverage of preexisting conditions; wellness care and prevention incentives; tax relief that provides a dollar-for-dollar deduction for every dollar spent on premiums or other medical or prescription costs; and a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction with no limit from gross income for every dollar contributed to nonprofit organizations providing healthcare for free or at reduced cost to the needy.
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS MANIACALLY COMMITTED TO PUSHING ITS OUTRAGEOUS SOCIALIST PROGRAMS
President Obama, flanked by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and his regiment of unelected bureaucrats, presses forward. As you know, the Liberty Counsel team filed the first private lawsuit against the healthcare law. The suit was filed the same day President Obama signed it. Ironically, this was 235 years to the day that Patrick Henry gave his famous fiery speech, which he ended by saying, “Give me liberty, or give me death.” Though our case is not the one the Supreme Court chose to hear, we still believe ObamaCare will be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Based on the lack of constitutional authority of Congress to pass this law, I am quite confident that when the Supreme Court hears the case, the law will be relegated to the annals of history – not the kind of history President Obama seeks, but the kind this law deserves. If Congress could get away with this expansive intrusion into the private decisions of our lives on something as important as
healthcare, then Congress has unlimited authority to dictate our every move. This power was never envisioned by the Founders, nor is it conferred by the Constitution. Moreover, the law appropriates 9.5 billion dollars to community health centers. These centers are permitted to cover abortion. Were the Hyde amendment incorporated into the healthcare law, these funds could not be used to fund abortion. However, though the Hyde Amendment has been incorporated into every appropriations bill providing funds to the Department of Health and Human Services since 1976, the Hyde Amendment was not incorporated into
the healthcare law, and, therefore, does not apply.
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS WILL BE ADVERSELY IMPACTED BY OBAMACARE
Liberty University, one of Liberty Counsel’s clients in its historic lawsuit against ObamaCare, employs over 6,200 people and is self-insured, offering quality health insurance to its employees. Since it is self-insured, according to the new healthcare law, the university will be forced to pay a fee for each covered “life” employees, spouses and dependents). “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the pain killer.” – Barack Obama June 25, 2009 This penalty makes no sense, but it is only one of many ways the healthcare law extracts money from every American to pay for this monstrosity.
Liberty University will also be fined because its waiting period for new employees does not match that passed by federal bureaucrats. The impact of this bill on employers is enormous. Companies like AT&T, Verizon, Deere & Co., Boeing, Caterpillar, and Prudential Financial, Inc. have estimated that this healthcare law will cost them in excess of $100 million each. AT&T estimated it will cost the company a staggering 1 billion dollars. These increased costs will be passed on to the people through layoffs and higher consumer prices. Unlike the federal government, which does not know how to balance a checkbook and recklessly borrows trillions of dollars from foreign countries like China, individuals and companies have only so much money to go around.The health savings accounts of Liberty University employees will soon be taxed at higher rates and will face a new maze of regulations. Health savings accounts allow employees to deposit their funds into tax-free, portable accounts in order to save for routine medical care or future medical expenses. Prior to the passage of the new healthcare law, the funds could be used for prescriptions, over-thecounter medications, and hygiene items and could be withdrawn for nonmedical expenses, so long as the employee
paid income tax and a 10 percent penalty on the funds. However, according to ObamaCare, starting in January of 2011, health savings accounts could not be used for purchasing over-the-counter medications, and the penalty for using the funds for nonmedical costs or emergencies has increased to 20%. These new regulations are estimated to cost individuals and families $1.4 billion. President Obama publicly advocated a single-payer system when he spoke in 2003 before the AFL-CIO Conference on Civil, Human and Women’s Rights. He said, “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare plan. Everybody in. Nobody out. A single-payer healthcare plan. Universal healthcare plan. That’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we’ve got to take back the White House and we’ve got to take back the Senate and we’ve got to take back the House.” He later said it may take 5, 10, or 15 years to get to a single-payer system, but he reiterated that is where he wants to drive America. Barack Obama has made no secret about his intentions.
THE QUESTION IS WHETHER CONGRESS HAD THE AUTHORITY TO PASS THIS LAW
The answer is a resounding “no!” The healthcare bill references the Commerce Clause of the Constitution as providing the authority to enact an individual mandate. However, interpreting the Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to allow an individual mandate contradicts the intentions of the drafters of the Constitution. The Commerce Clause has never been used to justify federal authority to require individuals to purchase a good or
service. It cannot regulate inactivity. In other words, it cannot be used to force individuals to buy health insurance. The Supreme Could be heard throughout our land!
We are taking our petitions to the Highest Court of all creation – to the Most High Supreme Judge – to our Eternal Advocate. Please join us!
