What was Sacbee.com's most commented story today? "High court upholds key part of Obama health law," with more than 1,200 comments showing as of this writing. No surprise there; we know well how passionate people are about this subject.
Our comment moderators read them all and selected these 16 as the best -- the most representative of the discussion, the most thoughtful and the most civil.
Kudos to the featured commenters:
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It's been sad watching the decline of personal responsibility and the removal of someone's ability to freely decide if they need a product or not.
-- sociopathic
Apparently America learned nothing from Greece's financial mess. We are the concrete learners that need to feel the pain ourselves before it is real. When a future Congress decides to cap healthcare, people will riot because big brother is "taking away a right". We deserve the fools we elect. Politics is no longer about what is best for the country, it is now about winning and losing and what is in it for me.
-- TPBurke
Marvelous news! Someday we'll look back on this day and wonder why it took so long to provide a decent and humane health care system for all Americans.
-- freespeechfan
Here's the thing: Every single person in this country has access to healthcare already. It's called finding a job that provides it or paying for it out of pocket. If there was a certain class of people that were being denied health care because of their race or class in society or something, I could understand the need for this law. In this country, if you want something you work for it. If you are unable to work for it, we will help you out. Otherwise, you should be on your own. Free stuff from the government never helped anybody.
-- followlikesheep
Whats the difference between this and mandating that everyone have auto insurance? The safety and protection of others is the goal with auto insurance. I see the same goal here.
-- ObamaBinLaden
I would think those who are all for "free market" would be rejoicing. This is an insurance company's dream! More people will be buying their insurance. A relatively small percent will choose not to, and they will pay a penalty in the form of a tax, which will help offset the costs. The more people who are insured and getting preventive care, instead of waiting until they are really sick before getting care, will save a ton of money, for everyone. It is and will be better than what we have now, for sure where those who are insured are carrying the costs for millions who aren't.
-- DontBlameMe
The two biggest burdens to small business are the costs of health care and workers' comp. A national health care system would remove both, and would allow businesses to hire far more employees than they could otherwise. National health care would be the best pro-business move this country has seen in years.It would also go far toward lowering overall sick days, since workers and their families would all have access to treatment. If the system gave each citizen vouchers to be used to pay for the medical insurer of his choice, it would preserve capitalist competition in the health care industry and benefit the nation as a whole.
-- FiercelyIndependent
I think it is a victory for America. If we can drop the party cantor, I think that we could sit down and have reasonable discussions about what's going on in our country. This political division is doing a great deal of harm to the core strength of our nation. Wouldn't it have been great if this had not gone to the Supreme Court. Wouldn't it have been great if those who oppose it would have said "We will not condemn this prior to investigation, prior to actually seeing the good and bad, but if this law is not what you promise it to be, we promise repeal." Wouldn't it be great if an announcement came from Congress an hour from now and that announcement was "We are going to set aside all party differences, we are going to stop all petty squabbles, we are going to work together to get Americans back to work and we will do whatever is necessary to accomplish that."
-- snowboarder96067
I'm all for reforming Health Care in order to lower costs. Unfortunately, I feel this legislation does nothing for the sort (even the CBO admits as such with their study of costs). This is an example of Democrats who want feel-good legislation ... without concern for costs. How is it a good thing for the country by mandating everyone pay for health care if it bankrupts them? The Democrats seeming denial for needing to reform Social Security and Medicare are perfect examples of their mantra of feel-good legislation at all costs.
-- hermie65
Wouldn't have expected Roberts to be the swing vote. Just goes to show you that you never can tell. I still believe that this is the wrong way to get people coverage, and that the country should adopt a single payer model. But if they are going to call the mandate a tax, perhaps things will move in that direction.
-- juggler65
For those of us who worked hard and could afford insurance for our families be prepared to pay almost double what you are today.
-- runsrealfast
Roberts just complied with his own beliefs, made the moral decision that in the end will provide health care for many tens of thousands who had none and had no way to acquire it. No more insurance corporation denial for those who through no fault of their own had a pre-existing condition. In addition, a major first step has been taken to act to control the out of control cost of health insurance.
-- natomas70
While Obamacare is not the end of the world, it may be a sledge hammer used where more precise tools would have been better. It also is in no way a cure for our biggest problem, which is the rapidly rising costs of medical care, and the poor health of our citizens.
-- johnsmoke
Not having universal health care greatly hinders job creation and has for decades. There is no reason why employers should have to be involved in health care. Free employers from the burden of health care and watch the economy take off like a rocket. Also, watch employees take off like rockets from jobs that they have kept only for health insurance purposes. You can watch them start a multitude of small businesses.
-- jerrycon
We must provide health care for all regardless of pre-existing conditions and for our children who graduate high school/college etc that cant find jobs with benefits and need to remain on parents health insurance. We must hold insurance companies accountable for humane decisions.
-- Donna Fields
A very sad day in America. You people are looking just the health care benefits. You don t see what is really coming, like higher taxes. We already have a health care system where people in other countries who already have this type system in place come here to America to get care. I wonder why that is? Think about it!
-- Charlie Riblon
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