"Obamacare" Is Going Down in Flames and That's Not A Bad Thing.

With the 11th Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruling against a principle feature of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), it looks as if it will not be long before the law will be in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The provision that is of greatest question is the mandatory purchase of health insurance. The Obama administration claims it is constitutional based on the Interstate Clause and the opponents claim it’s unconstitutional because it violates limits that are “first principles” or those designed to protect individual liberties, the right of judicial review, and the powers granted to states.

If I read the issue correctly, then it will probably be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, which I think is proper. However, given my progressive perspective, I see this as the opportunity to stop “pussy footing” around with healthcare and finally settle the issue once and for all. It is time to abandon these cobbled together plans and settle on a United States Universal Healthcare System. Every other developed nation in the world has already made the decision and it is working to the benefit of their populations.

The idea of the sovereignty of the individual is applicable only to a certain point, but when the sovereignty of the individual becomes counter to the common good, then the common good trumps the principle of individual sovereignty. I know that must sound counterintuitive to many; however, when one looks at the state of the current situation and the costs associated with maintaining a healthy population, we collectively have reached the point where we must abandon the current health system.

Free enterprise and healthcare services make for very strange bedfellows. The very idea that roughly 18 percent of our GDP should go for healthcare and for the population not to show more benefit from such expenditures remains mindboggling. If one considers that healthcare is an essential need in the pursuit of the inalienable rights of life and happiness, then we cannot afford to let free enterprise drive fulfillment of that need.

There are a number of current variables that are pushing the costs of healthcare higher. It includes population size and demographics, income disparity, a shortage of trained nurses and physicians, insurance companies’ regulatory and administrative functions, for profit healthcare providers, the high cost of prescription drugs and Americans who are uninsured or underinsured; just to name a few. Finally, realizing that the current healthcare system is incapable of addressing the changes needed makes it a problem that only the Federal government can successfully address and correct.

With the demise of Obamacare, it is time for us to do the right thing and enact a national universal healthcare system. This would be a positive message to the citizens and the rest of the world that the United States has moved into the 21st century prepared to meet the new challenges that are sure to come.