Apparently Our "Dear Leader" Has Not Read The Constitution

While most of the current debate about health care reform has focused on its cost, some members of Congress are talking about whether these bills would be constitutional. Senator Orrin Hatch raises a number of important questions in a recent editorial.
He notes that for the first time, "the federal government would be ordering Americans to buy a particular product or service they had not chosen to purchase." He is talking about the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that this is an unprecedented constitutional issue.
Another constitutional problem with this mandate is that the penalty for failing to purchase health insurance is not a tax but a penalty. The Senate Finance Committee bill says it is an excise tax, but it is really a fine assessed against those who do not buy insurance.
Senator Hatch says this matters "because the Constitution requires that a direct tax be apportioned among the states based on population." An analysis published in the BNA Tax Report confirms that the penalty imposed on people "who don't buy health insurance would be an unapportioned direct tax in violation of the Constitution."
And another provision in the Senate Finance bill would impose an excise tax on the sale of high-premium insurance plans and provide relief from that tax for insurers in certain states. Once again, this appears to be in violation of the Constitution since it requires that excise taxes be "uniform throughout the United States." This tax cannot be uniform if it varies from state to state and gives preference to those states that are fortunate to have senators who serve on the committee and can write exemptions for those states.
Senator Hatch concludes by pointing out that it is "tempting to brush the Constitution aside to pursue political objectives, to let the ends justify the means. But if politics trumps the Constitution, the Constitution cannot limit government and, therefore, cannot protect liberty."
The senator is raising important constitutional issues. Congress should listen.