Forum Post: Obamacare: A States Rights Healthcare Bill?

Other Republicans have strongly denounced the healthcare bill passed by Congress in 2009, often calling it a ‘job killer’ and ‘unconstitutional,’ however, I take a different view. In the preamble to the constitution, one of the reasons our founders gave was to ‘promote the common welfare.’ To me, this means the common welfare of all citizens, not just those who can afford it, and this healthcare bill is only a means by which our government can fulfill its promise to its citizens. Yes, we have the best healthcare in the world, in terms of standards of care, but in terms of who receives that care, our performance is shameful. In 2010, the CDC reported that 9.5 million children in our country did not have health insurance. Some states are better than others, and most states do have some sort of safety net which covers some of the costs of childhood health care, but just as often, parents forgo regular doctor’s visits and dental checkups simply because they cannot pay. This is unacceptable in the richest country on earth. The affordable care act has faults, especially in the parts that were rewritten by the healthcare industry, but the redeeming quality stands in its ability to increase coverage for the 59 million plus Americans (CDC) who lack any healthcare. Many independents and republicans claim that this will infringe on states rights, but there is one extremely important provision they overlook, and this is the heart of my argument. Any state that can come up with a different system can be exempted from this law, provided they can show two things. Firstly, that just as many people will be covered by their alternative, and secondly, that this plan will not simply displace costs onto the federal government. We have the best healthcare in the world, and every citizen deserves to have access to it. The Affordable Care Act both satisfies a constitutional obligation as well as provides ample considerations to the individual states, leaving me to wonder why the US took so long doing something that was clearly a part of our founders’ dream for America.