Matter of fact, Obamacare is based on what Mittens did in MA, and it worked there, so why won't it work for the whole nation?
Hi ABS: There is a HUGE difference Constitutionally between federal jurisdiction and state's rights.
for example, states are able to implement laws that touch on religious issues provided it represents the public (from marriage laws, to the death penalty, and the issue of health care and prochoice/prolife views that are affected by the funding and policies). because the people can vote and represent their views on a state level, that is the proper venue for making such policies, not the federal level where people don't have as direct representation and the states may have diverse conditions that the federal govt cannot legislate for the whole nation. The immigration policies pose a problem because it is federal jurisdiction, but certain states have more security issues and costs than others (like CA, TX, NM, AZ FL).
it is where the state laws are challenged constitutionally that the federal govt may overrule a law as unconstitutional (as with Roe v Wade where "due process" was violated for women at risk of being penalized for abortion without considering the mitigating circumstances.)
however, this does not give federal govt license to make laws FOR states in areas such as health care or marriage that involve religious beliefs that cannot be regulated by fed govt.
if people/states AGREE to pass a law for the whole nation, instead of localizing state by state, then it is possible to represent that through Congress and pass federal laws for all.
(ex: Code of Ethics for Govt Service, public law 96-303 was passed unanimously in 1980
as an example of good laws that everyone can agree should be enforced globally)
but clearly with the ACA, there was division by party and this bill did not represent the interests of the nation and of the states which contest it. It does not meet the constitutional standards of federal govt not interfering with states and with religious matters, such as the preference of people to only fund pro-choice or pro-life services and policies, or the issue of spiritual healing which cannot be regulated or legislated by govt, the exemptions based on narrow definitions that discriminate by religion where the federal govt is basically regulating whether people are required to pay or not based on meeting religious requirements.
there are major conflicts with this bill, and it should have been decided by states.
the most I think the federal govt could have ruled is that no person or party can charge their medical costs to other taxpayers or parties who don't consent to pay for that.
but as for HOW people or states set up health care to be paid for willingly, and without denying equal protection to people who should all have access to a group or system that meets THEIR standards of health care and social and financial responsibility, federal govt is not in a position to DICTATE how this is to be done.
So that is where I agree that the jurisdiction belongs to the states, and if people cannot agree per state, then it should be done by PARTY so people can represent their own financial political and religious interests and fund those policies not impose on other views.
It should be kept out of federal govt whose only role should have been to protect people from either imposing on others of different views, or denying access to a group or system that would have been able to support care for those constituents. But you can't force people to pay for insurance into a group if they don't consent to that system; there are other ways to set up health care and this should be left to people, states, businesses, nonprofits or parties to organize and not try to legislate, regulate or dictate through federal govt.