Individual mandate
An individual mandate is a requirement by law that certain persons purchase or otherwise obtain a good or service.
In the United States, the United States Congress has enacted at least two individual mandates. The Militia Acts of 1792, based on the Constitution's militia clause (in addition to its affirmative authorization to raise an army and a navy), would have required every "free able-bodied white male citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45, with a few occupational exceptions, to "provide himself" a weapon and ammunition.[1]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed in 2010 imposes a health insurance mandate to take effect in 2014, based on the Congressional power to regulate interstate commerce, but the legislation is controversial: in 2010, a majority of states joined litigation in federal court arguing that the power to "regulate" commerce does not include an affirmative power to compel commerce by penalizing inaction; as of 2011, the several court rulings on the matter have disagreed about whether the mandate is constitutional. As of January 2012, two of four federal federal appellate courts have upheld the individual mandate; a third declared it unconstitutional, and a fourth said the federal Anti-Injunction Act prevents the issue from being decided until taxpayers begin paying penalties in 2015.[2][3][4] In 1994, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report describing an individual mandate to buy insurance as "an unprecedented form of federal action... The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States."[5] The issue was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in March of 2012, and their verdict is expected in June of 2012.
An Act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, required employers of seamen to pay to the federal Treasury 20 cents per seaman per month, and authorized the President to use the money to pay for "the temporary relief and maintenance of sick or disabled seamen," and to build hospitals to accommodate sick and disabled seamen.[6] The Act authorized the employer to deduct the monies from the seamen's wages. There has been disagreement about whether the statute can be called an individual mandate.[7].[8].[9] [10]
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See also
References
- ^ Conason, Joe (2010-03-25). "So George Washington was a socialist, too! If the individual mandate is unconstitutional, how could our first president require every citizen to buy a gun?". Salon.com.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Kendall, Brent (August 13, 2011). "Health Overhaul Is Dealt Setback". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ http://www.startribune.com/nation/127629713.html
- ^ "Virginia judge rules health care mandate unconstitutional". CNN. December 13, 2010.
- ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (September 27, 2009). "Court challenge seen in health insurance mandate". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=728
- ^ Elhauge, Einer. "If Health Insurance Mandates Are Unconstitutional, Why Did the Founding Fathers Back Them?". The New Republic.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Elhauge, Einer. "A Response to Critics on the Founding Fathers and Health Insurance Mandates". The New Republic.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Elhauge, Einer. "A Further Response to Critics on the Founding Fathers and Insurance Mandates". The New Republic.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://volokh.com/2010/04/02/an-act-for-the-relief-of-sick-and-disabled-seamen/