‘Puter had a little time to reflect this morning during his 5:00 AM walk. He got to thinking about ObamaCare, and the government’s claim that it has the power to require Americans to buy insurance because their inactivity affects commerce.

In essence, Congress has power to make an individual purchase health insurance because their refusal to purchase health insurance so will have an economic impact on the health care system when they eventually need health care, as all of us will.

For purposes of this post, and this post only, ‘Puter will assume that the government does have the power to require individuals to purchase health insurance on the basis that the failure to do so causes an undue burden on the health care system at some future date. Further, the impact of the inaction on the health care system is a valid nexus for legislative action pursuant to the Commerce Clause.

As ‘Puter walked and watched the sun rise, he had the following thought. Using the logic of ObamaCare’s supporters, the government should be able to require pregnant women who carry fetuses with abnormalities to abort the fetus. Horrible, yes, but consistent.

A woman has prenatal genetic testing performed on her child. The tests indicate the child has a chromosomal abnormality. Experience indicates that a child with such a defect will require extensive medical care, for life, costing millions of dollars more than that of a child with normal chromosomes. In theory, the woman’s failure to act (abort her fetus) causes future disproportionate costs on the health care system (lifetime operations and medical care). The government should be able to compel the women to abort her child, against her will, to keep the cost of health care reasonable for everyone. Right?

Don’t like chromosomal abnormalities example? How about left handedness? Lefties die younger and have a higher accident rate than right handed people. That certainly increases medical costs. Make mothers abort lefties. Leaving abortion, how about obese Americans? Can the government require them to get bariatric surgery, or join Weight Watchers, as George Will suggests?

‘Puter’s not convinced his argument is airtight, but it sure as heck seems to follow the logic of ObamaCare’s individual mandate. The government is entitled to make Americans take actions they do not want to take in order to (arguably) keep health care costs down for everyone. Just because one set of actions (individual mandate) is less abhorrent than another (forced abortion) does not mean the government’s actions are different in kind or character, only in degree.

If you’ve got thoughts, let ‘Puter know.

'Puter

Always right, unless he isn’t, the infallible Ghettoputer F. X. Gormogons claims to be an in-law of the Volgi, although no one really believes this.

’Puter carefully follows economic and financial trends, legal affairs, and serves as the Gormogons’ financial and legal advisor. He successfully defended us against a lawsuit from a liquor distributor worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid deliveries of bootleg shandies.

The Geep has an IQ so high it is untestable and attempts to measure it have resulted in dangerously unstable results as well as injuries to researchers. Coincidentally, he publishes intelligence tests as a side gig.

His sarcasm is so highly developed it borders on the psychic, and he is often able to insult a person even before meeting them. ’Puter enjoys hunting small game with 000 slugs and punt guns, correcting homilies in real time at Mass, and undermining unions. ’Puter likes to wear a hockey mask and carry an axe into public campgrounds, where he bursts into people’s tents and screams. As you might expect, he has been shot several times but remains completely undeterred.

He assures us that his obsessive fawning over news stories involving women teachers sleeping with young students is not Freudian in any way, although he admits something similar once happened to him. Uniquely, ’Puter is unable to speak, read, or write Russian, but he is able to sing it fluently.

Geep joined the order in the mid-1980s. He arrived at the Castle door with dozens of steamer trunks and an inarticulate hissing creature of astonishingly low intelligence he calls “Sleestak.” Ghettoputer appears to make his wishes known to Sleestak, although no one is sure whether this is the result of complex sign language, expert body posture reading, or simply beating Sleestak with a rubber mallet.

‘Puter suggests the Czar suck it.