"Health Care Chickenhawks"

Opposite rulings today from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on health insurance exchanges and subsidies under Obamacare.  The D.C. court ruled 2-to-1 (two Republican skunks judges pretzeling their opinion to suit their politics) that Congress had not authorized the Federal Government to set up health insurance exchanges in those States that had not set up one of their own, relying on a drafting error in the Affordable Care Act on which to hitch their reactionary wagon.  The 4th Circuit ruled unanimously in the opposite, i.e., that it was the clear intent of the Congress that those non-State-run exchanges (and subsidies that flow from them) were authorized by the plain intent of the law.  It's expected that the full D.C. court, ruling en banc, will overturn the decision of the two Republican skunks judges.

We always have to wonder what motivates people on the right to fight the implementation of this law - which benefits so many - so doggedly.  (For that matter, they're still fighting rear guard actions on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid 80 years and 50 years later, respectively.)  Why they seem to delight in causing harm to the most vulnerable among us.  Here's Charles P. Pierce talking about the rulings and the "health care chickenhawks:"

Simply put, there is almost an entire half of our political system that believes that a great number of Americans simply do not matter enough to make it economically feasible to help them stay healthy. They do not count. It does not matter how many of them die preventable deaths. It is better for the country, this half of the political system believes, that they grow sick and bankrupt themselves. In his famous outburst on the House floor, Alan Grayson was low-balling it. This half of the system includes prospective presidents, members of Congress, think-tank geniuses, pundits, and a lot of other people who generally have one thing in common -- most of them have wonderful health care coverage either because they have really good jobs, or they're wealthy enough to afford it, or both. These are the health care chickenhawks. And we held them to a split decision today, and maybe that's enough for the moment.

It's also worth contemplating how we as a nation came to this level of selfishness and lack of concern for the humanity of others (think also of the virulent hostility to the immigrant children who've crossed the southern border).  We have to remind ourselves, when we're repelled by the casual brutality of others in the world, that we have our own shame right here on our shores.