Healthcare, Anyone?

I have mixed emotions about the news that the Supreme Court has upheld most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to even by the administration’s supporters as “Obamacare.”

My ambivalence comes from misgivings over the law’s provenance.  The individual mandate, the controversial key provision upheld by SCOTUS, is its best-worst aspect.  Despite its allegedly socialistic origins it creates a captive market for private insurers and was the result of intensive lobbying by America’s Health Care Plans, PhRMA, and other industry groups.  The bill that passed in the spring of 2010 is a Frankenstein’s monster of special interest and pork barrel provisions that illustrate the darkest facets of our political system.  (PBS Frontline presented an excellent documentary on the bill’s journey through Congress and the Obama administration’s frustrated efforts to enact a comprehensive reform.)     

Republican politicians, led by John Boehner, have already stirred an outcry from the right.   To be sure, the GOP faithful and a flagging Tea Party movement will get a lot of mileage out of the Supreme Court’s decision in the months leading up to the November general election.  It helps that many Americans, and not just those in “red” states, have a rather distorted idea of what the healthcare law does and its constitutional implications.

Bring on the cynical pols, the pissed off seniors raving about “death panels,” and the crackpots in tricorn hats…