Rep. Bill Cassidy says he’s encouraged by what he heard at Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing on the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
Cassidy, a physician in Louisiana, said a highlight of the oral arguments came in a question from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roberts asked solicitor general Don Verrilli Jr., “where does it stop?” in reference to the mandate.
“What is to stop you from being ordered to get a health club membership or the proverbial eat more broccoli,” Cassidy asked rhetorically.
“The fear is not just in health care, but in all of life, that granting this power to compel – sacrificing personal freedom for someone’s vision of the greater good – is something that will just continue to ripple out in terms of increased restrictions on our freedom.”
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Cassidy said he is confident that the Supreme Court will determine the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional based on the results of Tuesday’s hearing.
They [the Justices] were constantly going after the question of, ‘Where are the limits of congressional power?,’ Cassidy told Newsmax.TV during an exclusive interview.
Cassidy said he found some of Justice Stephen Breyer questions “worrisome.”
“It troubles me when someone says, ‘I don’t mind this encroachment because it solves and expediency’, that troubles me,” he said in reference to Breyer.
Cassidy also said his experience as doctor makes him certain there are better ways to improve the health care system than the Affordable Care act.
“I am a doctor who works in a hospital for the uninsured. Monday morning I was in that hospital there to see patients. It’s been my life for 20 years. I have found politicians overpromise and underfund,” Cassidy said.
“There are tangible ways you can go about lowering the cost of health care. Health savings accounts, for example, in which the patient actively participates in her healthcare have been shown to have premiums 20 to 30 percent cheaper than traditional insurance. But the families who have these policies still access quality health care at the appropriate rate.”
“You can look at every major federal health care program and there is a problem of financing,” Cassidy said.
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