This afternoon, Judge Rosemary Collyer issued her ruling on the motion by the Administration to forego a ruling on the merits in the United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, a challenge brought by the House to unilateral action taken by the Administration under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After losing its motion to dismiss the case on standing grounds, the Administration sought (over the objections of the House) to remove the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia without ruling on the merits of the case. Judge Collyer denied the motion and set the case for final briefing and ultimately a final ruling.
The ruling today means that the United States House of Representatives now will be heard on an issue that drives to the very heart of our constitutional system: the control of the legislative branch over the “power of the purse.” The Administration has long argued that it has the authority to order the payment of what will amount to $175 billion over the next ten years to insurance companies without an appropriation of funds by Congress, notwithstanding Article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution which provides that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” We are eager to present the House’s merits arguments to the Court and remain confident that our position will ultimately prevail in establishing the unconstitutional conduct alleged in this lawsuit. Regardless of the outcome, the public deserves an answer to this fundamental constitutional question.
Judge Collyer’s decision is linked below.
I would again like to thank our extraordinary team in this litigation. Specifically, I would like to thank General Counsel Kerry Kircher; Deputy General Counsel William Pittard; Senior Assistant General Counsel Todd Tatelman; and Assistant Counsels Eleni Roumel, Isaac Rosenberg, and Kimberly Hamm. It is an honor to be part of this team and this case.
Jonathan Turley
Lead Counsel, United States House of Representatives v. Burwell
Olly:
It’s all gimmicks to get votes. Politicians don’t really care about the people. They care about making their political donors happy, be they Big Unions or Big Business. Otherwise, they would investigate the outcome of their votes and change their behavior accordingly.
The whole “if you like your policy you can keep your policy” deliberate lie was because most people polled who had insurance liked their insurance.
So, that pretty much takes care of the “crappy coverage” meme that people like to fool themselves with to make themselves feel better for taking away cancer treatment options, decimating drug formularies, and basically making unsubsidized people pay Cadillac Premiums with Catastrophic deductibles for worse health insurance than they ever had.
Some people have tried to tell me that previous insurance coverage was crappy because it didn’t cover 26 forms of birth control “for free.”
Most insurance policies had a broad range of family planning options.
Now “for free” is the current lie they tell gullible people. “Free” means they jacked up everyone’s premiums and deductibles in order to pay for it, as well as all the other “freebies” that contributed to my deductible increasing 1100%.
I guess they think women must be ignorant or have never taken basic arithmetic.
philat:
“And yes a lot of people who had crappy insurance policies ended up paying more because their insurance didn’t mean basic standards (and yes, the President blew it by telling people they could keep their crappy policies if they wanted to). But a lot of people who had been denied insurance got insurance. And a lot of people who couldn’t afford anything, got coverage.”
Actually, no, I had a wonderful policy. It was with one of the major insurance companies, my deductible was $500, my premium was affordable, it had great coverage, and I never met a doctor who didn’t accept it.
Now, because of Obamacare, I pay a Cadillac premium with a Catastrophic style deductible. All of us non subsidized people do.
Obamacare is literally the worst of both worlds.
And “blew it” is a euphemism for deliberately lying to the American people in order to push legislation through that they would never have wanted if they were honest about it.
If they had said that people would lose their coverage, you know, told the truth, the ACA would never have passed and this conversation would never have taken place.
I think some of you fail to understand the gravity of even discussing the opening of Pandora’s Box. My half blind human pal hangs out with her at the cathouse on Damrak Street in Amsterdam and yes that is her name. I gave it a furtive look once and it is not something you all would want to open and see.
Preachin’ to the choir, Olly. It’s time to clean house. I would love to see a revolution where ALL incumbents lose.
In a related matter, I was listening to the Toronto Blue Jays radio broadcast on Saturday. There’s a national election in Canada today. Their political ads are similar to ours, just more respectful.
Nick,
The suckers are the ones still believing the manure their respective party is dishing out is in their best interest. We don’t need to look any further for an example of this than those Jonathan Gruber identified.
“I thought I had clarified that I was talking about people who actually believe that government CAN work.”
Those are the same people PT Barnum talked about as well. “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
I thought I had clarified that I was talking about people who actually believe that government CAN work. It’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t apply to conservatives or republicans, who mostly seem to either try to make government fail to help their pals in business, or just enrich themselves through their own criminal enterprises. One only has to look at the number of indictments, trials and convictions from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush years to see the criminal activity far outweighs that of any Democratic presidency.
Of course Sr. Ronnie himself should have been impeached and probably imprisoned, but everyone was so terrified of what it would do to the country so close on the heels of the Nixon fiascoes.
Don’t think so, Sherlock.
En Vino Veritas. That’s no secret. You sound like an old timer. I think I know who.
“If they fund the fraud investigators.” When pigs fly! The govt. welcomes fraud, it does not fight it. It is not their money, it is our money and they don’t care about us. The govt. has derision for taxpayers. The more fraud, the bigger the budgets. The bigger the budgets, the more power and control. I worked for govt. I got the hell out when I was young.
Oh. It’s ‘secret detestation’. At cocktail parties. Well, why didn’t you say so. Makes all the difference.
Let’s face it, Obamacare, or ACA, or perhaps we should be calling it DoleCare, because it’s really just a warmed over version of Bob Dole’s plan from 1996, did not do everything it could or should have. The compromises made to get the pharmaceutical industry, and the insurance industry and all the state fiefdoms of insurance regulators on board, turned it into a hodgepodge of good, bad and ugly.
And yes a lot of people who had crappy insurance policies ended up paying more because their insurance didn’t mean basic standards (and yes, the President blew it by telling people they could keep their crappy policies if they wanted to). But a lot of people who had been denied insurance got insurance. And a lot of people who couldn’t afford anything, got coverage.
Next step is Medicare for all. If they fund the fraud investigators, and do a decent job negotiating drug prices, and payments, it could be a great system. And if the political party that thinks government doesn’t work and then gets elected to prove it ever gets on board, it could be really great. We know they won’t, but one can dream.
Understand that health care does not function like any other market, and it cannot. There is a severe asymmetry of power and information–even the best consumers do not have the information or power to make for a balanced exchange. And it is not a demand industry like others. People do not go shopping for care when they are sick, they often can’t. And they often cannot decide to postpone a “purchase” the way one might with a TV–they need care right away. Furthermore, one cannot (legally) go and demand healthcare procedures, say, a liver transplant, the way one might demand to buy that TV if one has the money. There are a dozen other ways in which healthcare markets are different, and so demand something different in terms of regulation. This is why so much of the developed world has moved to universal care.
The Pandora’s box has been opened, if ever there is another Republican president, I’m quite sure he’ll get sued in Federal Court now too. Who knows, maybe JT will be involved again. Because it’s the principle of Seperation of Powers, you know.
My premiums about doubled and my deductibles increased 1100% under Obamacare. In addition, I often have to pay out of pocket to see a doctor anyway, because many cannot afford the 30% pay cut they get under Obamacare. (How many people think getting a 30% reduction in their own pay is a great idea?) Plus, drug formularies are restricted now, and we no longer get off formulary benefits, and our out of pocket costs for off-formulary no longer counts for out of pocket max caps or deductibles.
Just think how many more people could afford health insurance if Obamacare was unwound! Millions would instantly benefit! If we went back to the days, just a few years ago, when people could travel to whatever specialist their illness required, just think how many more people will achieve cancer remission than today, when Obamacare tightened up networks. In many cases, if you don’t happen to live near a cancer center specializing in your cancer, too bad.
Obamacare is inhumane and actually harms people, physically and financially.
Ceterum censeo Obamacare delendo est!
If the President can spend without Congress, then there is no need for Congress.
The President can then do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
That is a monarchy or dictatorship, and no longer a Republic.
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