A stunning victory in a lawsuit brought by the House of Representatives against handouts by the Obama Administration is a welcome dose of relief, states AAPS executive director Jane M. Orient, M.D. “Legal accountability is just what the doctor ordered for the ObamaCare program that is broken, unconstitutional, and being implemented in a manner contrary to law,” Orient said.
A federal district court in Washington, D.C., stunned liberal “experts” by holding that the House has standing to sue to block billions of taxpayer dollars spent for the benefit of insurance companies. Congress never authorized this massive handout to wealthy corporations, and AAPS is gratified that a court has finally indicated its willingness to scrutinize this misappropriation of taxpayer dollars.
“Congress passes all federal laws in this country,” observed Judge Rosemary Collyer. “Authorization and appropriation by Congress are nonnegotiable prerequisites to government spending.” She quoted Article I, Section 9, clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law…..”
But these straightforward quotations of the U.S. Constitution, with a finding that the House has standing to sue to stop unauthorized appropriations, has sent Democrats in D.C. into panic mode.
“Instead of criticizing and vowing to appeal the ruling, the Obama Administration should stop diverting billions in taxpayer dollars to enrich insurance companies,” declares AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly. “If government worked as hard at saving public funds as at avoiding accountability in court for misappropriating them, then our Nation would be in far better shape,” he added.
Stock values of insurance companies have been soaring over the past few years. The merger frenzy in the industry shows that insurers are chasing more and more profits. Aetna paid its CEO more than $30 million in 2013, which was 131 percent more than he made in 2012. Compensation to hospital administrators and CEOs has increased by 2500 percent over the past 30 years, while physician compensation stagnated. Why should taxpayers be forced to subsidize this highly profitable industry?
Government should not be propping up ObamaCare by paying insurance companies for products that are not what patients really want and need. We applaud the Court for allowing scrutiny of government expenditures.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943 to preserve private medicine and the patient-physician relationship.
