ObamaCare updates - courts to decide constitutionality (& more)

Federal Judge Likely to Let Obamacare Suit Go to Trial

September 14, 2010 3:50 P.M.

By Daniel Foster

The AP reports:

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A federal judge said Tuesday he will likely dismiss only parts of a lawsuit by 20 states challenging the Obama administration’s health care overhaul as unconstitutional, though he didn’t specifically say what portions.

The Obama administration had asked U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson to dismiss the entire lawsuit. The states and the administration disagree over whether people should be required to have health insurance, and whether states should pay additional Medicaid costs not covered by the federal government.

The judge said he will issue a ruling by Oct. 14. The lawsuit is likely to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also this:

Government Intimidation:

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has sent an organization of insurers a letter demanding that insurance companies stop attributing premium increases to the Democrats' health-care law.

"There will be zero tolerance for this kind of misinformation," she wrote.

The administration and "some industry and academic experts" think that Obamacare will have only a "minimal" effect on premiums. Apparently disagreement with these experts--note that she does not, because she cannot, say "all" experts--is "misinformation." What she is promising, in short, is zero tolerance for disagreement with her.

In the same breath, Sebelius raises the prospect that insurers with "unjustified" premium increases will not be able to participate in the health-insurance exchanges the new law sets up. The message is clear: Inform your customers about the reasons you believe their premiums are going up, and you'll be punished for it.

Critics of Obamacare have often said it was poorly designed, but in this instance it has achieved a kind of efficiency: It both creates the facts that need to be suppressed and gives the government power to suppress it.

During the debate over Obamacare, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent Humana a letter telling it not to warn its customers about the bill's cuts to Medicare Advantage. The law's passage has enabled this sort of thuggery to increase in scale. It's one more reason that Obamacare ought to be dismantled.