Whats wrong with the mandate?

As we await the Supreme Court judgment of the health-care-reform law [The key point health-law allies failed to address, page one, June 24], the meaning of the mandate so far has not been clarified by the media or by the various courts.

There are many dictionary definitions of the word mandate, and the prevalent interpretation appears to be that a mandate is mandatory or obligatory; that is, it must be obeyed by everyone under penalty of law for disobedience.

However, several sections of the law reveal that enforcement of collection of the fine for failure to comply is nonexistent measures to collect the fine are specifically prohibited. If this is the case, in a real sense, the mandate of this law has no practical meaning, except that it might motivate reasonable people to obtain health insurance somehow under the various provisions of the law. Those who refuse to obtain health insurance still can receive health care at emergency rooms at any hospital at public expense, because that is the law of the land.

Principles of insurance are simple. Auto insurance is required by all states to protect both the public and the driver before an accident. We buy life insurance usually long before we die. Buying health insurance under the new law is a sign of a national sense of community we are all in this together. There is current evidence that the use of health care by others helps to protect the entire population; for instance, the epidemic of pertussis is partly the result of many people in some areas avoiding vaccination of their children.

So what is wrong with the mandate, constitutionally or otherwise?

Irvin Emanuel, MD, Seattle

Not a damaging decision

I am greatly perplexed by the seemingly unquestioned perception that President Obama would be politically damaged by an overturning of Obamacare.

Forget the programs perceived illegalities. Anytime valuable services are stripped from a huge throng of citizens, theres going to be outrage. The majority justices would be perceived as heroes only by a jaded minority, impervious to what gets thrown out in its fanatical bathwater.

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Health-care mandate awaiting Supreme Court ruling