An Insurance Company with an Army

I dislike Obamacare, not because it is a socialist expansion of medicine, but because it does little to address the root of the problem with healthcare: the cost. The Affordable Care Act's main goal is to drive more customers to the front door of private insurers. Obama focused on creating a plan devised to get everyone covered; all while driving up the cost on those that cannot afford any more expenses in the wake of the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Act has improved America's healthcare situation slightly. It's gone from shittacular to just mostly shitty now.

Everyone should have healthcare. The mandate does not sit well with me (or many other Americans) but I understand and applaud the spirit behind it. The mandate would be unnecessary if insurance was affordable and doctors weren't incentivized to run every test they can think of. If you fix those two problems, you can drive down the cost of insurance which will make it available to a wider range of consumers. Look at those charts above. We may not be Greece (and never will because we control our own currency), but our financial situation is incredibly unstable. 58% of our spending in 2010 went towards defense and medical coverage for the elderly. 

Youth unemployment rates are staggering. How the hell are we going to pay for the things that make us a modern society (better schools, easier civilian access to key resources, airports, roads, etc...) while the majority of our money goes to supporting the elderly and blowing people up halfway around the world? Conservatives are right. We need to cut government drastically. This does not mean we need to make Medicare history. We must find a way to make healthcare better and cheaper. The mandate is here to stay. Our leaders must now find a way to reduce the cost of healthcare in this country while working with that fact.  

Chief Justice John Roberts did the right thing. The mandate is a tax (as is any law that results in you handing over cash to the government). It may be unpleasant but it is not beyond the bounds of Congress and it is not the role of the Supreme Court to police the actions of Congress so long as their legislation falls within the parameters of the constitution. If we don't like our representatives, it's our job to replace them. Not the Supreme Court's.