Republicans and the Trump administration make it no secret that they wish to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Of course, both entities are taking their sweet time to figure out a repeal and replace plan during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. Meanwhile, the Democrats have gone ballistic, energizing millions of Americans to take the streets demanding that we increase our taxes to pay for their health care.
One of these Democrats is Congresswoman Betty McCollum from the Fourth District of Minnesota. She argued in The Hill today that affordable health care should be a “Constitutional right.”
Every American should have affordable, quality health care as a Constitutional right. Read my @thehill op-ed → https://t.co/1hbxsSKIWk
— Rep. Betty McCollum (@BettyMcCollum04) February 22, 2017
McCollum suggests that the United States Constitution should be amended to say that “the federal government must find common-sense solutions to high out-of-pocket costs instead of simply adding to insurance and drug companies’ profits.”
Here is the proposed text of the Amendment:
Section 1. Health care, including care to prevent and treat illness, is the right of all citizens of the United States and necessary to ensure the strength of the Nation.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Here is the part of the Constitution that says that federal government is given the power to ensure health care for all Americans and that the public should pay for it:
_____________, _____________, __________________. _______________________;_______;________;_____________.
That quote was intentionally left blank because the Constitution of the United States does not give the government authority to force American taxpayers to provide a commodity like health care.
However, McCollum believes that the limited, republican government that the framers constructed through the supreme Law of the Land should be scrapped in the pursuit of a “progressive” health care system that will increase taxes on Americans across socioeconomic lines, forcing health care practitioners to sacrifice time, money, and resources to serving populations that cannot properly pay for their services, and more than likely create death panels similar to those in Canada. In her view, the enumerated powers of the three branches of government do not matter if it means that she can jam her agenda down the throat of the American people.
Fortunately, the Democrats do not have enough power in either the federal or state governments to jam through such an asinine amendment according to Article V of the Constitution. Thus, Rep. McCollum can continue to kick and scream about altering the Constitution and nothing will be done about it.
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(Editor’s Note: The original headline stated that Rep. McCollum said that affordable health care is a constitutional right. It has been edited to accurately reflect her position.)