SCOTUS Won't Hear New Obamacare Case

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will not hear the case Sissel v. Department of Health & Human Services this term, a challenge that could have harpooned the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, http://www.cchfreedom.org), a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights, says it’s disappointing that the Court didn’t capitalize on the opportunity to dismantle the failing federal health care system.

Brase said the case centered around the plaintiff’s argument that the Constitution’s Origination Clause provides that “all Bills for raising Revenue” must “originate in the House of Representatives,” but it allows the Senate to “propose or concur with Amendments” to revenue-raising bills originated by the House, reported Public CEO.

Brase released the following media statement today regarding the case:

“The U.S. Supreme Court made a bad decision today in refusing to accept the Sissel v. HHS Obamacare case,” Brase said. “Mr. Sissel rightly claims that the individual mandate, called a tax by Chief Justice John Roberts in his 2012 decision on Obamacare, should not have been imposed by a bill that originated in the U.S. Senate.

“The U.S. Constitution stipulates that legislation imposing taxes on the American people can only originate from the U.S. House of Representatives,” she continued. “In the case of Obamacare, the U.S. Senate took a six-page House bill that gave tax relief for housing to military families, stripped out every word except the House bill number and inserted more than 2,000 pages of language, including the individual mandate and a boatload of other Obamacare taxes. This maneuver means all Obamacare taxes originate from the U.S. Senate, not the U.S. House.

“Today the U.S. Supreme Court missed an opportunity to right a serious wrong done to the American people, and in the process signaled that such an unconstitutional maneuver could be used again by future Congresses, likely without any intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Brase talks about crucial health care issues during CCHF’s daily, 60-second Health Freedom Minute radio feature. Heard on 367 stations nationwide, including 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network, Health Freedom Minute helps listeners learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives, as well as steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy. The one-minute program is free for stations to run; for details, contact Michael Hamilton at mhamilton@hamiltonstrategies.com or (610) 584-1096 or (215) 519-4838.

For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at http://www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., exists to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. CCHF sponsors the daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on approximately 350 stations nationwide, including 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network. Listeners can learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives and steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy.

CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.