'Inside Washington' Host: Why is it Constitutional to Force People to Buy Car Insurance

Newsbusters ^ | 12/18/10 | Noel Sheppard

[Nachum]

Gordon Peterson on Friday asked either a staggeringly ignorant or intentionally provocative question.

On the most recent installment of PBS's "Inside Washington," the host queried his guests, "Why is it constitutional to require Americans to buy automobile insurance but un-Constitutional to force them to buy health insurance?" (video follows with transcript and commentary): ---

GORDON PETERSON, HOST: That’s Ken Cuccinelli. He’s the attorney general of Virginia. He brought the challenge to ObamaCare. The federal court and judge Henry Hudson of Virginia ruled it’s un-Constitutional to force Americans to buy health insurance, as the law mandates. Why is it constitutional to require Americans to buy automobile insurance but un-Constitutional to force them to buy health insurance?

[John Valentine]

That kind of insurance is never required by law, but it might be required by the bank if you are using the car as collateral for a loan.

[avacado]

The federal government does not require anyone to have car insurance. States require people to have car insurance if the CHOOSE to drive.

Can those idiots not understand the not so suttle difference? Perhaps they need to review Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution and the 10th amendment.

[EDINVA]

Car insurance is a STATE issue. A state can decide to force its citizens who register and drive a vehicle to carry insurance on it. What Judge Hudson ruled was a FEDERAL mandate, and the DOJ argued it was constitutional because of the Commerce Clause. Gordon, that’s about business BETWEEN states. And, the argument failed.

[terycarl]

2) You dont have a “right” to operate a motor vehicle on public roads.

I respectfully disagree...I built the highway, I pay for the maintenance of the highway, I do not need permission of the state to go from state to state in this country, I purchase and license my vehicle therefore I have the right to use the highway......I have, however CHOSEN to allow states to ascertain that YOU are worthy of driving on my highway......by so doing, I will also go along with being tested to make sure that I am also capable of driving on your highways......I guess it's better this way....the pioneers did not seek the permission of anyone to drive their conostoga wagons to California

[Kickass Conservative]

Actually, in many States if you drive a car on a public roadway, you can either buy Vehicle Liability Insurance or post a Personal Liability Bond. Insurance is just a more affordable avenue for most people.

I liken it to owning a home with a Mortgage. You are required to have Fire Insurance on the structure which protects the Mortgage Holder's asset, your home.

If you own the home outright, there is no “requirement” to carry Fire Insurance because you are taking the risk.

[Random Access]

The other point is if you have no auto insurance and get in an accident nobody is going to pay for your car or the other persons car. If you don’t have heath insurance you get treated anyway. No one in this country is refused treatment because they don’t have insurance.

Look at all the little gang bangers. Shoot em up and they all get cared for at the local hospital.

[Kackikat]

It is a STATE issue, as some states like TN and GA did not have mandatory insurance regulations, so it is NOT a Federal Issue. A drivers license is from a STATE not the Federal Government, as well as the STATE License TAG.

The Health Care Bill should never have been passed, it is a STATE issue. States provide Medicaid, that is supplemented by the Federal Gov’t...not the other way around. The Health Care Bill is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

[henkster]

Here’s another point he doesn’t make:

When I go take my car in for an oil change, do I turn the bill over to my auto insurance carrier? Heck no, I just pay it. But people do that for their annual check up.

[marsh2]

You are not required to have car insurance to drive on peurely private roads. It is the revocable and conditional permit of driving on public roads that allows the state to require liability insurance as a condition of the permit. Life is an inalienable right, it is not a permitted privilege. It does not require a permit, nor can the federal government require health insurance as a condition.

[kelly4c]

They protect us from ourselves with the seatbelt law. Lie that it turned out to be. When they were talking about passing, or as they were passing the seat belt law way back when they said it would only be enforced during routine traffic stops for other reasons. That police would/could not pull you over simply for seeing you not wearing one. Look where that got us. I received my first and only ticket last year, at a friggin “road block” type seat belt check while being a passenger in my mother’s car.

[Judges Gone Wild]

I rather doubt it is constitutional to force people to buy auto insurance. If I operate a car in CA, a portion of my assets now belong to the insurance industry. If I don’t surrender this portion to an insurance company, the state will prosecute me and fine me, which doesn’t give me insurance. I did not intend to surrender my property when I got a car. Apparently, I did.

[Strk321]

There is no federal law requiring car insurance, only state laws. Also, you only need insurance to drive on public roadways.

The car insurance argument is a favorite, but easily refutable, one of liberals.

[dajeeps]

Because the Feds don’t mandate car insurance. The states do that and they are not limited by the enumerated powers in the US constitution. They could also mandate the purchase of health insurance, and I would be looking forward to it in blue states everywhere should SCOTUS rule in favor of Virginia’s complaint. ObamaCare must be repealed and not just left to SCOTUS.

[pepsionice]

The simplicity here is that if you don’t own a car...you don’t pay for any insurance. If you do own a car...the state will make its own requirements upon you as you register the car (from actual car inspections, to liability insurance).

Note that Mennonites and their horse-drawn wagons don’t have liability insurance. If you own a pedal-drawn vehicle...it requires no insurance. If you live in a retirement community and use golf carts...they require no insurance.

The argument given by the Inside Washington guy...is the type you’d expect from a 8-th high school student. I’m amazed that he stood there smiling over his suggestion.

[onona]

Damn. As soon as my insurance company found out my kids got there drivers licences, I was paying out the a$$.

No way in hell could I get over by saying they wouldn’t be driving my car. I could only get out of it by proving they were going to college over 1000 miles away.

[DanMiller]

It's fairly simple. The federal government's powers are granted and delineated by the Constitution. The Commerce Clause has been cited (and rejected) as the basis for federal power to impose mandatory health insurance. The powers of the states are not granted by the Constitution in general or by the Commerce Clause in particular; their powers over intrastate commerce are not limited by it.

The Fourteenth Amendment imposes on the states various limitations otherwise applicable only to the federal government -- First Amendment rights, Fourth Amendment rights, etc. The Commerce Clause, however, is a grant of various limited powers to the federal government and grants no commerce powers to the states; they don't need such a grant.

[J Edgar]

Well it goes like this: auto insurance or posting a bond for a state mandated amount is required if, and only if, you chose to drive.

Health care insurance is required if, and only if, you chose to live ... but, and this is a big but indeed, ... the constitution guarantees the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - so we have a conflict!
Can a constitutional government force you to chose to give up your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because you don't want to buy health insurance?

[TexNewMex]

“No one in this country is refused [medical] treatment because they don’t have insurance.”

Okay, I’ll bite....Why not? Who pays? Is it fair?

[bunkerhill7]

‘Inside Washington’ Host: Why is it UnConstitutional to Force People to Buy Car Insurance Except for Illegal Mexicans?

[TheThinker]

They may all have Ivy League degrees, but they can only hold bumpersticker thoughts.

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