To the Editor:
Jason Mazzone argues that Congress cannot force someone to buy medical insurance because it can regulate only what we do, not inaction. This assumes that medical care is something we can do without. But those who do not buy insurance almost invariably seek medical care and impose the cost on the rest of us. To avoid paying for their care, we would have to callously deny them treatment and watch them die at the hospital gates.
The Constitution does not require us to respect the right not to buy insurance only to force the rest of us either to pay for medical care for others or to deny it when it is needed.
Remember that Medicare is based on the Congressional powers to tax and spend. It is ironic indeed that many conservatives who oppose the mandate believe that the only constitutional way to achieve universal health insurance is through the public option that they deplored.
Joseph William Singer
Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 17, 2010
The writer is a professor at Harvard Law School.
Note from KBJ: Three points. First, the problem of the uninsured showing up at emergency rooms can be solved without forcing everyone to purchase insurance. Second, Medicare doesn't force anyone to purchase insurance, so it has no bearing on the constitutionality of the mandate. Third, irony is not argument.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 