Questions and answers from Holman Jenkins and Stephen Green
Category Archives: Health
The Real Anti-Science Party
No, @ChrisMooney, it’s not the Republicans.
[Update a few minutes later]
Whoops. Just read more of it. This is a little out to lunch:
Take the NASA portfolio, for example, where the president unceremoniously cancelled the Constellation plan over the objections of both parties and both chambers of Congress. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, hardly partisan bomb throwers, highlighted this in testimony before the House Science Committee on multiple occasions, pleading, “now is the time to overrule this Administration’s pledge to mediocrity.”
Constellation had absolutely nothing to do with science, and both Armstrong and Cernan were notoriously uninformed about it, relying on nonsense fed them by friends in Houston and Huntsville. Things like this damage the credibility of the rest of the piece in the minds of people who understand space policy.
Medicaid
And its devastating impact on the poor.
Like ObamaCare, this all comes back to the (deliberate) confusion between health care and health insurance.
We have a food-stamp program for those unable to (in theory) afford food. Why not a similar one for health care? Let the market work.
By Any Other Name
OK, so what’s to keep someone, or multiple someones (competition!) from setting up off-shore gambling sites where, based on their age, gender, medical and family history, people can make bets on whether or not their annual medical expenses will exceed some selected amount? Currency controls?
The fact that the federal government would fight this is a stark testament to what a huge encroachment on liberty this monstrosity is.
ObamaCare Penalty Avoidance
So all you have to do is get a utility canceled? That will seem pretty cheap compared to out-year penalties. After all, you can always reinstate with a deposit.
I wonder if that’s a changeable HHS rule, or in the law itself?
So Much For Trending Stories
In a sensible world, Randall Munroe would have just put a lot of “journalists” out of a job.
President Scam Artist
If Barack Obama were in the private sector, he’d be prosecuted for fraud:
Justice Department guidelines, set forth in the U.S. Attorneys Manual, recommend prosecution for fraud in situations involving “any scheme which in its nature is directed to defrauding a class of persons, or the general public, with a substantial pattern of conduct.” So, for example, if a schemer were intentionally to deceive all Americans, or a class of Americans (e.g., people who had health insurance purchased on the individual market), by repeating numerous times — over the airwaves, in mailings, and in electronic announcements — an assertion the schemer knew to be false and misleading, that would constitute an actionable fraud — particularly if the statements induced the victims to take action to their detriment, or lulled the victims into a false sense of security.
For a fraud prosecution to be valid, the fraudulent scheme need not have been successful. Nor is there any requirement that the schemer enrich himself personally. The prosecution must simply prove that some harm to the victim was contemplated by the schemer. If the victim actually was harmed, that is usually the best evidence that harm was what the schemer intended.
Of course, there’s nothing new about that. Social Security has been a Ponzi scheme since its inception.
[Update a couple minutes later]
I would note that there is only one constitutional remedy to a president who engages in criminal activity. The Republicans should at least contemplate it as a potential campaign issue next fall, as the president’s poll numbers continue to tank.
A Legal Death-Blow To Obamacare?
So, looks like the Seventh Circuit is racist:
We hold that the plaintiffs — the business owners and their companies — may challenge the mandate. We further hold that compelling them to cover those services substantially burdens their religious-exercise rights. Under RFRA the government must justify the burden under the standard of strict scrutiny. So far it has not done so, and we doubt that it can.
We know that the administration will appeal this, and it seems pretty likely that SCOTUS will take it up. It also seems pretty likely that they’ll uphold the Seventh Circuit. So the real question is, given the lack of a severability clause, in doing so, will Roberts take the opportunity to rectify his screw up last year, and void the entire law?
Limb Regeneration
A breakthrough in understanding of the process. This would be a huge boon to the military, but good for everyone, especially if it can be extended to organs.