The Health Care Shell Game: Why Not Leave Policy to the States?

In my latest blog post for Learn Liberty, I take on arguments against decentralizing health care policy to the states on the grounds of fiscal capacity: So if federal ACA spending were cut or even zeroed out, why couldn’t states that like the legislation simply reinstate the same taxes and spending that the federal government …

Some Bad Arguments for the PPACA from Jonathan Gruber

Even though I disagree with much of its interpretation, I admire Jonathan Gruber's pre-PPACA research on health insurance markets. He's one of the most forthright and clear-headed advocates of government takeover of health insurance that I know. However, his recent defense of the law in The New Republic indulges some pretty blatant economic fallacies: But …

Ed Glaeser on Federal Mandates

Harvard economist Ed Glaeser weighs in on federal mandates in general: Although I am open to having state governments require more health coverage, I fear a federal government with too much power to control individual behavior. The track record of federal interventions in managing markets suggests a strong case for limiting that power. The question …

Shocking News: Government Beat By Jet Blue

President Obama recently complained about the technological backwardness of the White House.  According to news reports, he said: "The Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff.  I'm like, c'mon guys, I'm the president of the United States.  Where's the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen …

Interposition: Part One: An Essential Purpose of the States

A rumble can be heard emanating from assemblies and governor’s mansions across these fruited plains. It is a sound reminiscent of by-gone days that echo down through centuries of constitutional thought. Prompted by everything from unfunded Congressional mandates to the new omnibus healthcare bill, (See here and here) these reverberations strike cords of distant legal memory that …

ObamaCare Random Thought – Nature Will Ultimately Rule?

Does anyone have the sinking feeling that the fate of ObamaCare's individual mandate - one of the biggest Constitutional law issues of our time and one that may have vast ramifications for the future of our government of enumerated powers - is going to be determined by nature?  Specifically, assuming Justice Kennedy is a vote against …

ObamaCare’s Canary in the Coal Mine?

An interesting and scary fact from David Brooks' interesting column on the future of ObamaCare: More seriously, cost projections are way off. For example, New Hampshire’s plan has only about 80 members, but the state has already burned through nearly double the $650,000 that the federal government allotted to help run the program. If other …

The Politics and Policy of Health Care in the Age of PPACA

Avik Roy has an interesting piece in National Review on how conservatives (really, free-marketeers) should approach the policy and politics of health care in the age of PPACA. I largely agree with his policy prescriptions, somewhat vaguely stated as they are: First, Republicans must foster a truly free market for health insurance by eliminating the …

Individual Mandate Unconstitutional

Breaking news from Virginia federal district court. Consider this an open thread on the topic. I will try to update with reaction from around the web. UPDATE: Here's a link to the decision (PDF). SCOTUSblog has a summary. Orin Kerr says Judge Hudson's decision contains a significant, possibly fatal error.  

Randy Barnett on Obamacare – and a Note on Conscription

Barnett is one of the most interesting voices on the law out there.  I wonder what my fellow blogger Marcus Cole thinks about his work.... Here is a discussion with Barnett about Obamacare from the Wall Street Journal.   It includes an interesting discussion of the mandate as a "commandeering of the people": "What is the …