I think it is duplicitous to question the lawful underpinnings of reform without examining the constitutionality and legality of our current health-care system.
Messrs. Rivkin and Casey also point out that if the government cannot proscribe access to abortion (Roe v. Wade), access to other medical procedures, including transplants, corrective or restorative surgeries, and chemotherapy also cannot be proscribed. What is missing from this line of reasoning is that right now our government already allows insurance companies to dictate (and deny) access to health care. A public health insurance plan would not curtail access to care as the authors suggest, but rather provide for more robust choices, giving us the option of a health insurance plan that is not driven by profit. What could be more constitutional than that?
Eve Weissman
Health Care Campaign
Coordinator
New Jersey Citizen Action
Highland Park, N.J.
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