Hot Air posted an article today by Ed Morrissey addressing the question as to whether or not mandatory healthcare is constitutional.  I am by no means a legal scholar, and much of the argument was way above my pay grade, but the case Mr. Morrissey made was interesting.

In response to an argument made by Kathy Kattenburg at The Moderate Voice, Mr. Morrissey points out:

“I’ll allow for the sake of argument that the government has a several-decades-old precedent for establishing government delivery of medical care, but Medicare and Medicaid are entirely voluntary. No American citizen is forced to accept Medicare or Medicaid, as anyone arguing on behalf of the “47 million uninsured Americans” should know.  Several million of the uninsured are people with eligibility in one of these federal programs who have declined to enter them.”

There are a few aspects of this question I had not considered.  When required health insurance is compared to required car insurance, the argument falls down–driving a car is a privilege–it is optional.  If you don’t want to be required to purchase car insurance, you can choose not to drive.  If you don’t want to be required to purchase medical insurance, refusing to see a doctor or obtain medical care is not really an option.  Breathing is not optional.