Dr. Butler in a USA Today article in February of 2012, summed up the position of the Heritage Foundation: Is the individual mandate at the heart of ObamaCare a conservative idea? Is it Constitutional? And was it invented at The Heritage Foundation? In a word, no. The U.S. Supreme Court will put the middle issue to rest. The answers to the first and last can come from me. After all, I headed Heritages health work for 30 years. And make no mistake: Heritage and I actively oppose the individual mandate, including in an amicus brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. In its amicus brief to the Court, the Foundation stated: the Heritage position quoted by the Department of Justice (should) have a red flag indicating it had been reversed. . . . Heritage has stopped supporting any insurance mandate. Heritage policy experts never supported an unqualified mandate like that in the PPACA [ObamaCare]. Their prior support for a qualified mandate was limited to catastrophic coverage(true insurance that is precisely what the PPACA forbids), coupled with tax relief for all familiesand other reforms that are conspicuously absent from the PPACA. Moreover, Heritages legal scholars have been consistent in explaining that the type of mandate in the PPACA is unconstitutional. It is curious that as ObamaCare has begun to be imposed upon the unwilling, by the incompetent, that we have seen the increasing use of Hey, it was your guys idea. This is likely as much to deflect blame as it is to embarrass the political right. After all, if Conservatives thought of it first, they need to share the blame, correct? The next time you hear or read someone mention that the Heritage Foundation conceived of the individual mandate, one should reflect a bit, not on what is being said, but on what is being left out. We need to recognize that the Heritage Foundation: 1) Did not propose a mandate for routine health care. 2) Later withdrew all support of any type of a mandate. 3) Recognized that any such mandate is unconstitutional. 4) Argued to the Supreme Court (via briefs) that any such mandate was at odds with individual liberty. Yet, just as Professor Pappe does not care if what he claims has any basis of truth to it, we will hear time and again the lefts distortion of reality by repeating the simplistic claim that the individual mandate was originated by the Heritage Foundation. Those making this statement are relying on the reader to not having all the facts. After all, if deception advances the cause, why let the truth get in the way of that noble goal? Read more: americanthinker/2013/10/heritage_vs_obamacare.html#ixzz2jJTJjPiC Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:16:39 +0000
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