Health Care11 June 2015

Notes from Norm: Barack Obama as Dirty Harry

According to the American Action Forum, “The Supreme Court’s pending decision in King v. Burwell could upend the way premium subsidies are distributed through the Federal health insurance exchanges in as many as 37 states.  The impacted states are those that declined or failed to establish their own exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”

For 7.7 million Americans who will lose a health insurance subsidy if the Court rules against the President that means an average annual subsidy of $3,156 will disappear.

What is the President prepared to do about it?  

Nothing.

In fact, the President has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t believe the court will rule against him.

So confident (brash, arrogant, dismissive, etc.) is he that he has not directed anyone within his Administration, or those responsible for the administration of ObamaCare, to prepare to deal with the impact on 7.7 million Americans who will find themselves without the subsidy they need to afford the health insurance he said they needed to have.

For 11.1 million Americans who will be freed from the individual mandate that the President forced upon them, and the average annual penalty of $1,200 they will avoid, the unshackling of their financial future from the oppressive hand of the federal government will be liberating.

Under King v. Burwell there is the prevailing belief that ObamaCare should be read literally and that it only provides subsidies for those Americans who live in states where a health exchange was created by a state.

The President, who the fawning media at the time reminded us was an astute scholar of the Constitution, doesn’t want the U.S. Supreme Court to follow the dictates of law.

He wants them to follow the dictate of Barack Obama.

If there are problems with the law don’t follow the law – follow what he wants the law to be.

If the courts don’t agree with him – then the courts are wrong and the American public should pay the price for their unwillingness to bend to his will.

For Republicans who have opposed ObamaCare there is an understanding that there needs to be a backup plan if the court rules against the Administration.

The liberal media wants us to believe that Republicans fear a political fallout if the Supreme Court rules against the Administration.

On the contrary, what Republicans fear is that 7.7 million Americans are going to be on the losing end of a feckless political calculation by the President and Democrats.

While there is not yet a clear consensus among Republicans of how those 7.7 million Americans will be able to replace the lost subsidy that will threaten their health care, there is a clear consensus something among Republicans that something must be done.

But, not from the President.  Or Democrats in Congress.

The President and his administration insist there is no contingency plan.  No ability of the Administration to address the crisis with an administrative order.

This is from the same Administration that quit governing the old fashioned way – by the Constitution – and instead opted to govern through Executive Order and Administrative rule-making.

There’s nothing this President wants that he isn’t willing to use an Executive Order or Administrative Rule to achieve.

Which is why the future for 7.7 million Americans is indeed perilous.

Not because of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Or, for that matter, not because of the U.S. Congress.

But because the President in the White House who confuses leadership with rhetoric – statesmanship with bluster – and problem-solving as beneath him – has no interest in addressing the peril.

He believes that 7.7 million Americans will blame the Supreme Court and Republicans for denying them a subsidy given to them by ObamaCare that the law simply did not provide or allow.

The President is taunting the Supreme Court to rule against his legacy legislation and demanding Republicans fix his mistake.  Or else.

He knows there are four words that can make or break the very legitimacy of ObamaCare:  “established by the State”.

Barack Obama is acting as though he is Dirty Harry.

In every act he has taken – and every act he is unwilling to take –with respect to the pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the King v. Burwell Case he is conjuring up his own version  of the above the law enforcer of justice.

The Supreme Court must rule on the meaning of four words that will have a marked impact on the economic and health care future of 7.7 million Americans.

Republicans seek to find a solution to remedy the problem if the court rules the President and Democrats failed to properly construct ObamaCare to provide them the subsidies they current receive.

But, the President has no plan.  No solution.  And not intention of addressing the human pain and suffering from four words his Administration failed to understand.

Instead, President has five words for the court as they ponder the very credibility of the law that is fundamental to his legacy:

 “Go ahead, make my day”.