GOP files frivolous lawsuites to block Healthcare Reforms

Washington and Lee Law Professor Timothy Jost breaks down the frivolity of the lawsuits challenging the Federal Government's enforcement of the new Health Care Reform legislation signed into law on Tuesday. I agree, this is totally silliness. Anyway, I thought the GOP was in favor of Tort Reform and that frivolous lawsuits filed against Doctors were one of the main reasons that Health Care costs were out of control? What gives?

People don't want to be told that they have to do anything, and I understand that. But there are times when we need to be pointed in the right direction and given a push to do the things we should have been doing all along. The new Healthcare Reform legislation is just part of the equation to getting healthcare costs under control. The other part is personal responsibility, which the Federal Government has little control over. That means healthy lifestyle changes like regular exercise, quit smoking, eathing healthy.

As far as if the Federal Government had the power to enforse the legislation, yes they do. Case in point, many years ago the Federal Government included a provision in a Transportation Bill that basically said if the states want money from the Federal Government to build and maintain their roads they had to raise the age a person could buy alcohol from 18 to 21. The states complied. Roads got build and Drunk Driving deaths went down.

A few more examples of the Federal Government mandating things that forever changed our lives:

1. The passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1909 for the Income Tax - since that time we have fought two World Wars, been through the Great Depression, Korean War, Vietnam War, several recession, etc...

2. Passage of the Social Security Act - this helped lift million of the out of poverty and provide a small source of income to the elderly in their twilight years. (If the Federal Government hadn't dipped into the Social Security Trust Fund the fixes would be much smaller. Also, people are living much longer now than back in 1935.)

3. Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s plus the passage of the Twentyfourth Amendment in 1962 making it illegal to deny any person the right to vote for failure to pay a poll tax or any tax. (Incidentally, poll taxes were targeted towards Blacks to prevent them from voting, along with Literacy Tests which were used to deny Blacks the right to vote as well.)

4. Medicaid and Medicare in 1968, which ensured that the poor and those age 65 and over had access to Health Care. (These things need fixing too, which Democrats and Republicans have failed to do until now.)

The point is that we didn't turn into a Communist/Socialist Dictatorship. Our economy didn't collapse, and it didn't kill any jobs. Yes, the size of the Federal Government has grown, but so has our nation and the services we demand of our Government.

One last point, we are all required to purchase car insurance or pay into a fund for those that don't have car insurance. We can all grip and complain about having to purchase or have some type of health insurance all we want. The fact is that we are paying way more right now for those that don't have health insurance, or can't afford it, when they go to the Hospital Emergency Room through higher health insurance premiums. So give me a break and get over it. We are going to be better off and more people are going to be covered, enabling Doctors and medical professionals to catch things earlier to help avoid treating more costly catastrophic illnesses down the road.

These gasbags in the GOP are on the wrong side of history, just like these fake patriots that warned of the impending doom we were heading for with the passage of the Income Tax Amendment, Social Security, Civil Rights legislation, Medicaid and Medicare. It is very unlikely that these lawsuits will go anywhere. Filing frivolous lawsuits are just a waist of time and Tax Payer money.

These reforms aren't perfect, but at least it's a start.