Economics

Health Law’s Demise May Permit Better Plan: Laurence Kotlikoff

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling that forcing people to buy health insurance (or pay a fine) is unconstitutional may be the death knell for President Barack Obama’s plan to cover the nation’s uninsured.

Talk about literal interpretation of the Constitution. Had the health-care law used different words and levied a tax (equal to the fine) on all Americans and provided a tax credit (equal to the fine) for those with health-care coverage, nothing of substance would have changed, and the judge would have had no objection.