UH-O…

Well, it would seem that we may have hit yet another bump along the way regarding the government’s desire to seize, outright, control of how we are able to obtain our healthcare. And at the same time it appears that the entire Obamacare fiasco, just became even more of a mess. That’s because, just today, we had a federal court strike down those health insurance subsidies for people in the 36 states that did not set up their own Obamacare exchanges. Uh-O!

And it was in pretty short order that we heard from several of those who oppose the law. One of those was Ted Cruz who said the ruling "is a repudiation of Obamacare and all the lawlessness that has come with it." Cruz tweeted his comments shortly after a three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. issued its ruling. While the ruling is a "significant victory for the American people & rule of law...we must not rest," Cruz added. And on that he is correct.

The case, filed in May 2013, challenged the legality of the Obamacare subsidies for people enrolled in exchanges set up by the federal government. In its ruling, the federal appeals court panel found that "a federal Exchange is not an 'Exchange established by the State,' and section 36B (of the IRS code) does not authorize the IRS to provide tax credits for insurance purchased on federal Exchanges." Gee, that sounds pretty cut and dried, even to me.

As noted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which coordinated the lawsuit: "The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, authorizes subsidies for qualifying individuals in states that created their own healthcare exchanges. But in the spring of 2012, without authorization from Congress, again, the IRS expanded those subsidies to states that refused to set up their own exchanges, instead letting the federal government do it for them."

CEI said, when it announced the lawsuit, "Under the Act, businesses in these nonparticipating states should be free of the employer mandate, and the scope of the individual mandate should be reduced as well. But because of the IRS rule, both mandates will be greatly enlarged in scope, depriving states of the power to protect their residents." That sounds like yet another example of overreach by an administration that seems a bit more out of control with each passing day.

CEI quoted Michael Carvin as saying, "The IRS rule we are challenging is at war with the Act’s plain language and completely rewrites the deal that Congress made with the states on running these insurance exchanges." Mr. Carvin represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Look, we all know how this law was first cobbled together and then passed, by Democrats, in the dark of night. And this ruling serves to once again point out that just how badly flawed the law really is.

What Tuesday's 2-1 ruling does is that it invalidates the IRS regulation that allowed subsidies in all 50 states. If the ruling is upheld, the decision could mean premium increases for more than half of the 8 million Americans in 36 states who purchased taxpayer-subsidized insurance under the law. Now as we have witnessed a lot lately, the IRS seems to believe it can operate above the law and able to do pretty much whatever it wishes. This court said no.

"Agencies are bound by the laws enacted by Congress," Sam Kazman, general counsel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), said when the lawsuit was filed. "Obamacare is already an incredibly massive program. For the IRS to expand it even more, without congressional authorization and in a manner aimed at undercutting state choice, is flagrantly illegal." But in this era of Barry, this is how we now expect our government to operate.

Of course it goes without saying that Barry & Co. can most certainly be expected to ask for a ruling from the full appeals court, and the case may likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. These folks are not about to give up quietly on that which they have so desperately been seeking for themselves and for so long. Make no mistake, what this is truly all about is nothing more than control. And that would be control of the American people by their government.

And that’s really the most tragic thing here. Because the best healthcare system in the world has now been destroyed and for no other reason than because the Democrats wanted to turn into a reality their decades old wet dream of controlling how it is that the American people are able to obtain their healthcare. Because when you control how a person is able to obtain their healthcare, you then have an ability to actually ‘control’ a great deal more than that. And therein lies the prize.