Will Obamacare's Individual Health Coverage Mandate Survive Court Challenges? Holder Thinks So, but...

December 14, 2010, the day after a federal judge ruled against the individual mandate for coverage, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius wrote an opinion piece arguing, "Health reform will survive its legal fight," in the Washington Post.

But polls show that the mandate for individuals to get health insurance or face stiff financial penalties is proving to be a major part of the 2010 healthcare reform or overhaul that is highly unpopular.
A CNN poll earlier this week reported, "CNN Poll: Controversial health care provision unpopular:"
"According to the poll, six in ten oppose the requirement that all Americans get health insurance, with 38 percent saying they favor the provision."

This opposition can only worsen in the wake of Federal Judge Henry E. Hudson's (Virginia) striking down the health insurance mandate as unconstitutional.

***FRAMING THE ARGUMENT ESSENTIAL
The key is to frame the argument properly. The point needs to be disseminated, stronger and more widely, that health insurance is essential. Someone might not think that they need health care. But someday that surgery or other medical procedure, or hospital stay comes. Then, they owe 50,000 to 100,000 dollars.
The key is also to get the Americans and policy makers for that matter out of the myopic bubble of only looking at America. Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and others should have emphasized how other countries that have model health care systems also have health insurance mandates. As wikipedia informs us, It is a common legal requirement in many countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, and from 2014, the United States of America.

***THE NEED FOR PROGRESSIVES TO CAPITALIZE ON POPULIST OUTRAGE
The public has reason to be angry at the powerful. The problem is that progressives have not been able to steer outrage at the proper targets: power-bloated abusive corporations and their lackey lobbyists and Demo-Republican politicians.
The failure for Democratic politicians to pursue a public option and instead, settle on the final form of the health care reform act, is the source of the problems with the discussion over Obamacare and problems with its fate.
There is no public entity (The public option) with which the private health corporations can compete, so as to hold back corporate chicanery in the form of price gouging of patients and prescription drug consumers. Advocates needed to have more vociferously pushed for the option, building coalitions, holding mass rallies. Instead, the health-care reform was an inside the Beltway affair. We can see this with the legislation's giveaway to the drug companies.
For a Huffington Post contribution on Obama's back-sliding away from the public option, see this Feb. 22 piece: "Obama Health Care Plan Drops Public Option."

(Obama first aired his support for the public option in September 2009, but some commentators, such as Ezra Klein in the Washington Post, have pointed to weaknesses in his push for the public option.)

Time for responsible Republicans to denounce brown-shirt-type mobs disrupting town hall meetings

No one wants a government in which the public officials never speak to the public. But this is the situation that the Freedom Works crowds are creating. The are harassing public officials across the country, impeding the ability for public officials to have rational, civil discussions of health care. They are not only harassing Congressmen, they are also harassing Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius. July 28, 2009, mobs disrupted, booed and interrupted Secretary Sebelius. They essentially prevented the proceedings from moving forward.
Alas, she persevered, and a few days later she sounded as though some discussion proceeded.

We knew something was up when the introducer was booed. But we had a good exchange, lots of people eager to talk about how we need health reform.

Back on the trail for the public option, at Philadelphia, Secretary Sebelius experienced trouble, August 2, as documented by Denise Dennis at Huffington Post.

Philadelphia, PA -- August 2: This afternoon, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I saw the face of ignorance and hate--and it wasn't pretty.

When Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius and Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) came to the National Constitution Center to answer questions about health care reform, they were greeted by an overflow crowd of approximately 400 people, the majority of whom were supporters with legitimate questions.

Unfortunately, though, a well-organized, belligerent and loud group of right-wingers stood in the aisles and across the back and disrupted the town meeting throughout. They yelled, shouted and jeered, and it was clear that they were not there to participate, but instead to try to disrupt the meeting and make it difficult as possible for anyone else to ask questions. They jeered from the moment the director of the Constitution Center stood to welcome everyone. For a few days leading up to the town meeting, e-mails circulated around Philadelphia warning that the "tea-baggers" were planning to protest the meeting and, although there were fewer of them than there were supporters--they made more noise shouting about "socialism," "abortion," and "assisted suicide."

Generally, things are getting worse at a number events with Congressmen, with the need for police to escort them, safely, away from the angry mobs.

These far right extremists cannot continue to disrupt public discourse. Responsible Republicans must denounce these anti-(small d) democratic tactics. Senators Lugar, Snowe, Voinovich must make clear that it is OK to express conservative opinions in opposition to Democratic Congressmen and Cabinet Secretaries; but it is not alright to aggressively shut down public discussion. It is time for them to draw a line in the sand between civility and mob rule.

These mobs are no different from the far-left (American) Spartacists. "Sparts," as they are known to normal, civil leftists stand up in meetings, scream at speakers, attempt to take over meetings. In sum, they are aggressively against any democratic principal of civility. The Freedom Works mobs are the right-wing incarnate of the Sparts.
Again, we can have a clean, vibrant, verbal political arguments with Republicans, but mob aggression against public officials is profoundly anti-democratic.