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Reason-Rupe Poll: Americans Don't Think Health Care or Broccoli Mandates Are Constitutional

March 26, 2012, 9:01am

As the Supreme Court hears challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this week, a new Reason-Rupe poll of 1,200 adults finds 62 percent of Americans believe it is unconstitutional for Congress to mandate the purchase of health insurance, while 30 percent think requiring health insurance is constitutional.

Legal experts have suggested that if Congress has the power to require individuals to buy health care insurance, it may also mandate that Americans buy broccoli. The Reason-Rupe poll finds 87 percent of Americans believe Congress does not have the power to require the purchase of broccoli, while 8 percent say Congress can force you to buy vegetables.

Reason-Rupe finds 54 percent of Americans think the health care law will result in the rationing of health care services. Half of Americans have an unfavorable view of the health care law, while 32 percent have a favorable view of it. Similarly, 49 percent say the law should be repealed and 36 percent would let it stand.

When it comes to addressing their health care needs, just 23 percent of Americans trust the government. That’s less than half of the 50 percent who say they trust health insurance companies and considerably lower than the 84 percent who trust their doctors.

The Reason-Rupe poll results reveal some health care reforms that the American public would support. Over two-thirds, 69 percent, of Americans would like to be able to shop for health insurance in the same way they shop for auto insurance. And many are willing to move away from our existing system to do so: 48 percent of Americans would prefer to receive the money their employers spend on health care as part of their paycheck and then shop for their own health care plans. Forty-one percent would like to continue to get insurance through their employer.

Amicus Brief Filed With Supreme Court: Department of Health and Human Services, et al., v. Florida, et al.

Reason Foundation joins brief challenging the health care mandate
February 16, 2012

Congress’ failure to consider such limitations resulted in a bill that exceeds the powers granted to Congress under the Constitution and severely infringes upon the individual liberty that the Constitution was designed to protect and promote. In such circumstances, this Court should not accord to the individual mandate the same “presumption of constitutionality” that it typically grants to congressional enactments in the first instance.

Liberal Programs Deserve Blame for Income Inequality

The Congressional Budget Office documents income gains for everyone, not just the wealthy.
November 8, 2011

Shikha Dalmia

Liberals are treating a new Congressional Budget Office study showing that income inequality increased in America over the last three decades as the smoking gun they’d always been looking for—the ultimate indictment of America, capitalism, and apple pie.

Soak the Rich or Soak the Super Rich?

Harry Reid's "millionaire' surcharge" is a new move in the old Democratic game of class warfare.
October 18, 2011

Shikha Dalmia

For Democrats, millionaires are the new Gypsies—a minority whom it is perfectly acceptable to persecute because its wealth is ill-gotten, not the product of hard work.

Strict Scrutiny

ObamaCare and the long slow death of conservative judicial restraint
August 18, 2011

Damon W. Root

In his recent opinion upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s mandate that all Americans purchase health insurance, conservative 6th Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton adopted what used to be a very common conservative legal position: judicial deference. But does judicial deference matter anymore on the legal right? Associate Editor Damon Root explains why Chief Justice John Roberts is the one conservative on the Supreme Court most likely to echo Sutton’s views. Roberts may very well uphold the health care law as an act of judicial restraint, Root writes. Just don’t expect the conservative rank and file to thank him for it.

Looking for Limits

The power to mandate health insurance is the power to mandate almost anything.
August 17, 2011

Jacob Sullum

Defenders of the federal law requiring Americans to buy government-approved medical coverage have to justify it in a way that does not also justify every other conceivable congressional dictate regarding how we spend our money. So far, says Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, they have not managed to do so, which is the main reason a federal appeals court last week rejected this "wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of Congressional authority."

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