The Mandate Democrats Won’t Touch with a Ten-Foot Pole — Yet…
Writing in Politico this morning about the CLASS Act Ponzi scheme, Rep. Ted Deutch makes the point that the Administration’s failure to find a way forward to make the voluntary program solvent “is proof that individual insurance mandates…all work.” He then goes on to spend the next 400 words of the op-ed…not arguing for a mandate to participate in the CLASS Act. To recap: Deutch supports expanding government-sponsored long-term care options, and he says that a mandate would achieve such an objective – but he won’t publicly support it himself.
That might have something to do with the fact that Obamacare’s health insurance mandate has been ruled unconstitutional by one appeals court, and is likely on its way to review by the full Supreme Court. The mandate is also VERY unpopular with voters, with a whopping 82 percent saying the federal government should NOT have the power to mandate the purchase of insurance. Former Obama Budget Director Peter Orszag has endorsed a federally-imposed mandate to participate in long-term care insurance, as have other liberal bloggers. But Democrat Members of Congress dare not speak the word “mandate” when it comes to CLASS.
It’s more than a little bit ironic that Deutch claimed that “critics of CLASS cannot have it both ways,” because it seems Democrats are fine pointing out that CLASS won’t work without a mandate – but won’t endorse such a mandate themselves. Call that a not-so-subtle hint that if the Supreme Court ever rules Obamacare’s health insurance mandate constitutional, more federal mandates – to participate in CLASS, or engage in other activities – will likely follow in short order.