Sen. Lincoln: Congress Can Force Americans to Buy Health Insurance Because Constitution ‘Charges Congress With the Health’ of the People

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

Original post by J.D. Lamb, Texas Director of theregulatorsvigilancecommittee on December 17, 2009 at 2:56pm in Constitutional Issues

Sen. Lincoln: Congress Can Force Americans to Buy Health Insurance Because Constitution ‘Charges Congress With the Health’ of the People
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
By; Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ORIGINAL CNS NEWS ARTICLE
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told CNSNews.com that Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution “charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people.”

The words “health” and “well-being” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution.

The Congressional Budget Office has determined that in the entire history of the United States the federal government has never mandated that Americans buy any good or service. Both the House and Senate health care bills, however, include provisions that require all legal residents of the U.S. to purchase health insurance, a provision whose constitutionality has been qiuestioned by, among others, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

At a press conference on Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln the following question: “What part of the Constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to mandate that individuals have to purchase health insurance?”

Lincoln did not answer the question during the press conference but spoke to CNSNews.com in the Dirksen Senate Office Building immediately afterward. CNSNews.com asked her there: ‘You didn’t respond to my constitutionality question during the press conference, and what was your reaction to, your answer to the question?”

“Well, I just think the Constitution charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people,” Lincoln said.

CNSNews.com then asked the Senator: “So, what area though? You’re saying the health and well-being. What area, though, does that fall under?”

“The health and well-being of the people of the country,” she replied.


During the press conference, Landrieu told CNSNews.com she would let “constitutional lawyers on our staff” answer the question of where the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals buy health insurance. “Well, we’re very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I’ll let them answer that,” said Landrieu.

“But what I will say is that most certainly it is within Congress’ jurisdiction to come up with a way to have a health insurance funded with shared responsibility, is the way I like to, you know--government has a responsibility, individuals have a responsibility and business has a responsibility,” said Landrieu.


In 1994, when Congress was considering then-President Clinton’s proposal for universal health care, the CBO studied the issue of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance and discovered that the federal government had never in the history of the United States mandated that individuals purchase any good or service.

“A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action,” said the CBO. “The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

This July, the CBO said that an attempt to justify a mandate that people buy health insurance by using the Commerce Clause of the Constitution—which gives Congress the power to regulate commerce “among the several states”—raises a “novel issue.”

“Whether such a requirement would be constitutional under the Commerce Clause is perhaps the most challenging question posed by such a proposal, as it is a novel issue whether Congress may use this clause to require an individual to purchase a good or a service,” said the CBO.

Sen. Hatch offered an amendment to the health care bill while it was under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee that would have expedited judicial review of the provision that mandates individuals buy health insurance. Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D.-Mont.) ruled that the amendment was not the proper jurisdiction of the committee and did not allow a direct vote on it. Hatch later told CNSNews.com that he believes the provision is unconstitutional.

“If that is held constitutional--for them to be able to tell us we have to purchase health insurance--then there is literally nothing that the federal government can’t force us to do,” said Hatch. “Nothing.”

As a followup to the interview in the Dirkson Building, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Lincoln’s press secretary specifically which Article and Section of the Constitution the senator was referring to when she said the Constitution charged Congress with the health and well-being of the people. The press secretary did not respond by deadline.

The words “health” and “well-being” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. The closest approximations to these words come in the Preamble, which includes the phrase “promote the general welfare,” and Article 1, Section 8, which includes the phrase “provide for the common Defence and General Welfare.” As per the CBO's historical analysis, neither of these phrases has ever been used to justify Congress forcing individual Americans to purchase something.

[Phil Dedrick]

Maureen, you are correct, or, we can wait until we are charged a fine of $1,500.00 per year, per individual, and punishable up to 5 years in prison...I suppose I will be in prison or jail for the rest of my life...

[Maureen Gerrish]

But you'd have to wait for the bill to be passed before filing a lawsuit against it right?

[Phil Dedrick]

On another group called ResistNet.com, which I am a member, we are working on a lawsuit which will hopefully be taken on by Judicial Watch, we will need 500,000 signatures with the below info. that I posted and hopefully, many people will donate a needed $5.00 per person to JW when they start this suit...

[Oregon Country Girl]

Forcing Americans to purchase ins. is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

[Phil Dedrick]

Subject: Supreme Court has said Congress cannot control the practice of medicine.


The Supreme Court has already spoken out against Congress making universal health care the law of the land FOUR TIMES. Direct control of medical practice is beyond the power of the federal government. This is a decision of the Supreme Court, decided April 13, 1925, Linder vs. the United States. Then there is this case decided in 1926 that said, “Congress, therefore cannot directly restrict the professional judgment of the physician or interfere with its free exercise in the treatment of disease, Lambert vs. Yellow.

You could look at Oregon vs. Ashcroft in 2004 or Conant vs. Walters in 2002. However, they all give similar judgments restricting congress’s authority over medicine and making it clear that the states have this right not congress.

What is being debated in Congress right now is direct control and therefore beyond the power of congress to enact.