Health Care

washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2011
Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-government/supreme-court-sets-weeks-worth-of-arguments-over-obamas-health-care-plan-for-late-march/2011/12/19/gIQAsArZ4O_story.html

Summary-
    The Supreme Court has decided to argue the constitutionality of President Obama's health care bill for an entire week. Those who think the bill is constitutional and those who do not will be presenting their sides for over five hours. Among the subjects for debate are the legality of taxing people extra for not participating in the new insurance program, and whether the court should make a ruling before or after those taxes are collected.

Connection-
    Health care accounts for a significant portion of American spending, and therefore the laws concerning how it functions and who pays for it are important. This has been discussed in class during a lesson that touched on the issue of the national debt, and where spending might be cut to deal with that issue.

Personal Reaction-
    It seems that though freedom and choice are important to Americans, there is no other feasible method of reforming expensive health care than to socialize it. If America could ban fast food, this might also accomplish the goal. Unfortunately that also interferes with choice and the free market. There seem to be very few ways to create health care reforms without upsetting someone, and changes might as well happen sooner than later.