Op-ed:

ObamaCare...the twelfth hour countdown begins

By: Diane Sori

OK guys, let’s all be honest here and admit that there was never any question that the BIG decision on ObamaCare would be released today, the last day of the Supreme Court’s 2011 term.  After all, no matter which way the Court rules they know they need to get out of town fast and not look back, because never mind which side prevails, some will not be happy campers.

Remember back when this all started... “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it,” said Senate wannabe queen Nancy Pelosi.

Unfortunately, the bill passed but thankfully it got challenged, leaving it up to the Supreme Court to decide if ObamaCare is Constitutional and stays put, or if it violates our rule of law and gets ditched.  And today is that day.

And the options are...drum roll please...if this monstrosity gets thrown out in full, as I hope it will, the Supreme Court would have rendered dead and buried what amounts to a federal entitlement program having an astronomical cost that ‘We the People’ can ill afford.

If the Justices invalidate only the hot button issue of the individual mandate, the part that forces us to purchase something we don’t want and can’t afford, at least then ‘We the People’ would be under no obligation to carry medical insurance if we don’t want to, thus leaving what remains of ObamaCare lacking any strength for enforcement or funding.  

But even if striking down the mandate only is the ruling, it still forces insurers to remain bound by the law to accept applicants no matter what their medical condition, would still limit what insurers could charge their oldest and sickest customers, and would still allow millions of uninsured individuals to get coverage through Medicaid’s expansion, all the while allowing 15 million or so middle-class Americans to become eligible for federal subsidies to purchase insurance, although premiums would most likely go up.

Still, even with this the winner would be ‘We the People’ as the choice to get medical insurance or not would be ours NOT the governments.  And that’s the crux of this whole situation...can the government force us to purchase something we do NOT want and/or cannot afford for fear face of facing a ‘penalty’ if we don’t.

The last time I checked freedom of choice was still something ‘We the People’ had, and I hope after today that it stays that way.

However, if the Supreme Court Justices rule that ObamaCare is indeed Constitutional and allows it to stay as is, most Americans will NOT be happy, NOT happy at all, as poll after poll shows that the vast majority of Americans do NOT want the government telling them what they must purchase or else.

So, as we sit or as we pace the floor while counting down the remaining few hours until we know the outcome, one final question remains...how will the decision come down...will it be along ideological and party lines or will a few Justices have the courage to cross party lines and do the right thing.  

Come on guys, we know the answer to that one, but if the decision indeed does come down along party lines, who cares, because at least ‘We the People’ will be the winners and Barack Hussein Obama will be the loser.

And I, for one, can happily live with that.