{"id":519662,"date":"2010-04-07T18:00:58","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T22:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011550205_healthreformlaw.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-04-07T18:00:58","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T22:00:58","slug":"health-reform-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/519662","title":{"rendered":"Health-reform law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Need for health care does not justify right to services<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stewart Jay and Congress are missing a golden opportunity to really shape up America. [\u201cNew health-reform law is definitely constitutional,\u201d Opinion, April 4.]<\/p>\n<p>Using the power of controlling interstate commerce, Congress should mandate that all people pay for a gym membership and diet program \u2014Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc. \u2014but no free plans or plain, old walking. Self-help and self-responsibility are the antithesis of socialism. Of course, with proper proof, you will get a credit on your taxes. Without proof, you will be fined.<\/p>\n<p>But think how healthy people will be; medical needs, problems and expenses will drop so insurance will cost less. It is a win-win situation for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Just because people need health care, it does not mean they have a right to it. It is amazing how our national religion is evolution and survival of the fittest, yet in our social arena, some politicians advocate freedom means you have the right to twist your neighbor\u2019s arm to make him pay your bills.<\/p>\n<p>I pay some social taxes because I am not heartless \u2014and because they benefit me too \u2014 but merely prepaying everyone\u2019s medical bills through mandatory insurance does nothing to hold down costs.<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Byron Gilbert, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What Congress \u2018wants\u2019 not always constitutional<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>UW Law Professor Stewart Jay\u2019s commentary concerning health-reform law constitutionality raises some interesting \u201cquestions.\u201d How does he conclude that forcing people to buy health insurance from a private company is no different from requiring people to pay taxes for Social Security or Medicare?<\/p>\n<p>He justifies requiring buying the insurance because \u201cCongress wants people to have insurance when obtaining care in order to hold down costs for all.\u201d If Congress really wanted to hold down medical costs, it should enact laws that force \u201cobese\u201d people to join Weight Watchers or the local gym. The reality is what Congress \u201cwants\u201d is not always constitutional.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Bill Hirt, Bellevue<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Need for health care does not justify right to services Stewart Jay and Congress are missing a golden opportunity to really shape up America. [\u201cNew health-reform law is definitely constitutional,\u201d Opinion, April 4.] Using the power of controlling interstate commerce, Congress should mandate that all people pay for a gym membership and diet program \u2014Weight [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-519662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}