Killing Federalism in Health Care

Kathryn Nix / November 05, 2009

As Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said at an event on health care reform yesterday at the Heritage Foundation, “There is no such thing as a free lunch—especially if Washington is the one having you over.” Democrats continue to insist that the best way to reform the health care system is to centralize decision making and regulation within the federal government. Not only is this inaccurate, but it also goes against the same principles supported by the Constitution that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flippantly dismissed at a recent press conference.

Health care is too complex and intricate to micromanage at the federal level. The best, and most constitutional, way to enact reform would be to set the framework for change at the federal level and then allow decision-making and implementation to be determined by the states. This is in accordance with the federalism employed by the founding fathers in molding our nation into a democratic republic. The founders recognized the limits inherent in political power, thus specifically limited the power given to the federal government by the Constitution. As former Congressman Thomas Feeney writes in a recent paper: (more…)