Health Insurance and Federalism - What You Need to Know
To say health care and insurance has been in the news lately would be a minor understatement. The subject of reform has led to reactions ranging from its about time to its a socialist move. One aspect of the situation that is not really being discussed is an issue of federalism and it is important because it reflects a bigger trend.
What is federalism? It is simply a political structure in which there is a central political group and surrounding smaller groups. In the United States, this takes the form of the federal government and the individual states. The biggest issue in federalism is who has the power. In a country like Switzerland, the central federal government has very little power at all. In the United States, the opposite is the case but states are starting to contest this and the healthcare debate shows us a perfect example.
One of the aspects of the proposed healthcare reform effort is that all citizens will have to participate or be assessed penalties. These penalties would be collected by the IRS. The exact provisions are a bit murky, but the mandatory nature of the system has met with open hostility in a number of states. This has manifested in an interesting way at the state government level. No less than 35 states currently are considering legislation that will excuse any of their citizens from being forced to participate in such a national plan or pay penalties for not doing so. The vast majority, if not all, of these bills will pass.
So, what happens then? Well, we are going to be looking at a stand off between the federal government and states. Our current system calls for federal law to trump state law. Practically speaking, however, we see the federal government backing off in some areas such as medical marijuana prosecutions in states where laws have been passed allowing it. The question is whether the same will occur with a national healthcare plan? The answer is almost assuredly that it will not. You can't have part of the country forced to pay into the plan while some states do not.
All of this leads to the issue of where power should sit in our current system of federalism. With the federal government perceived to be out of control, you can be the issue will be moving to the front more and more as time passes.
What is federalism? It is simply a political structure in which there is a central political group and surrounding smaller groups. In the United States, this takes the form of the federal government and the individual states. The biggest issue in federalism is who has the power. In a country like Switzerland, the central federal government has very little power at all. In the United States, the opposite is the case but states are starting to contest this and the healthcare debate shows us a perfect example.
One of the aspects of the proposed healthcare reform effort is that all citizens will have to participate or be assessed penalties. These penalties would be collected by the IRS. The exact provisions are a bit murky, but the mandatory nature of the system has met with open hostility in a number of states. This has manifested in an interesting way at the state government level. No less than 35 states currently are considering legislation that will excuse any of their citizens from being forced to participate in such a national plan or pay penalties for not doing so. The vast majority, if not all, of these bills will pass.
So, what happens then? Well, we are going to be looking at a stand off between the federal government and states. Our current system calls for federal law to trump state law. Practically speaking, however, we see the federal government backing off in some areas such as medical marijuana prosecutions in states where laws have been passed allowing it. The question is whether the same will occur with a national healthcare plan? The answer is almost assuredly that it will not. You can't have part of the country forced to pay into the plan while some states do not.
All of this leads to the issue of where power should sit in our current system of federalism. With the federal government perceived to be out of control, you can be the issue will be moving to the front more and more as time passes.
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