The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 12

12 NATION ft WORLD FRIDAY. JULY 6, 2012 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE TBO.com Views THE TAMPA TRIBUNE andCIjeEainpaCimcs! WILLIAM R. BARKER -Publisher RICHARD M. MAAS Executive Editor JOE GUIDRY Opinion Editor Our Views Taxing away our rights is still unconstitutional Your Views LETTER cr Tin: DAY Respectful communication This letter is not about government, politics or Obama-care. It is about modeling for children and, as such, all of the above feature in.

An "I won't comply" statement does nothing to model respect be it respect for parental authority, bus driver assistants, teachers and leaders of all kinds. Yes, children also have to be taught to be independent thinkers not to believe everything that comes down the pike. Mosdy, though, they need to be good communicators when conflict arises. How much better served our children would have been with a statement such as the following: "With all due respect for the higher court's ruling regarding the health care law, I will be looking at each element of this document very carefully. I'm sure that there are some with which I will agree wholeheartedly; there are others about which, in the interest of the citizens of Florida, I will be obliged to voice my opposition." Free speech is still free speech.

Respectful communication is the vehicle by which free speech can and should be expressed. Sister Ciaire LeBof.uf Thonotosassa Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts killed the Constitution, say a number of conservative writers commenting on the court's ruling that preserves most of President Barack Obama's health care reforms. They're exaggerating. At worst, Roberts bruised the Constitution with a sharp elbow by identifying a taxing power we didn't know Congress had. But the Constitution will survive.

In defining as a legal tax the new penalty for not buying insurance, Roberts allowed die complex health care law to stand, but he was careful not to expand the federal government's power to direcdy regulate interstate commerce. It's hard to see a useful difference between regulating and taxing, but there is one. The fear widely expressed now is that Congress is suddenly free to tax everything, without limits beyond the consent of a majority of voters. It is unsettling to be taxed for doing nothing, in this case, for not buying insurance. People wonder what else they could be penalized for not doing.

Beyond allowing a tax break for, say, putting income into retirement savings, Congress now suddenly seems to have the power to impose a penalty tax on those who don't save. A great many choices are now at risk of becoming tax fines, but the fundamental freedoms clearly protected in the Bill of Rights are not in jeopardy. Congress still cannot restrict speech by, say, charging you a tax if you write a letter to' the editor, speak at a public meeting or post a comment on a news story. It still cannot tax you to support a church or discourage you from attending an assembly. We don't see how the Constitution would allow a tax that would limit the possession of ordinary firearms or permit a tax to discourage voting.

Congress couldn't tax criminal suspects for exercising their Fifth Amendment right to not testify against themselves. The tax at issue the penalty for not buying insurance is tied to the income tax, which is specifically allowed by the Amendment, ratified by the required 36 states (but not Florida) in 1913. Only if your income is beyond a low minimum threshold will you be charged a higher tax by the IRS for not buying federally approved health insurance. The people who will most feel a loss of freedom by that we mean loss of money will be younger, healthy workers who either cannot afford insurance or do not want it. In 2014, they will be forced to buy it or else cough up a "shared responsibility payment." They should be left alone, we have heard more than a few times this week, because if the government can punish us for doing nothing, we no longer live in a free country.

The hole in that line of thought, and a big motive for health reform, is that many people without insurance are not doing nothing. They sometimes get sick or hurt, and more than a few show up at the hospital expecting to receive health care they have no intention of paying for. Those costs are passed on to the rest of us through higher insurance rates and higher taxes. The law also penalizes large employers who do not offer health insurance to workers. That feature was not seriously challenged.

The companies letting workers go bare, the law says, are giving themselves an unfair economic advantage over employers who do offer insurance, and they're getting that advantage at the expense of the general public. The solution Congress and the president gave us, a complicated mandate to buy insurance, is frustrating. Many of us will be coerced into buying private health insurance. It's a big expansion of government, but one our elected representatives can easily roll back. A main purpose of the Constitution its amendments is protecting the minority from majority bullying on basic freedoms.

The Supreme Court didn't touch that important shield against the most dangerous powers of government. Cleaning up the income-tax code is long overdue. It is jammed full of incentives and penalties designed more to influence behavior than to raise revenue. It may take a new Constitutional amendment denning limits on the 16lh Amendment to 'fix it. But it can be fixed.

Meanwhile, the vexing insurance tax is not the end of constitutional government. It's not even close. people are exactly why we are losing this country. Find another cause rather than cowering to decisions you don't agree with. Bill Flanagan Zephyrhills Scott's oath It was the U.S.

Constitution and litde else, apparendy that kept Gov. Rick Scott out of jail when his former company, the ColumbiaHCA hospital chain, was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud after a 1997 raid. Scott availed himself of his 5th Amendment constitutional right to refuse to answer prosecutors' questions at least 70 times in that case. Having parlayed his free pass into the governor's chair with scare tactics, unattainable goals- and a sudden dislike for federal dollars, he loudly says his opinions trump the now constitutional Affordable Care Act as the law of the land. What do we make of a man who spits on the document that saved him? Should we support a governor who trashes his oath of office to pick and choose which federal laws he (and we) should obey? George Meyer Tampa Seniors' fears Regarding "Don't be misled (Views, July 3): Tony Fran-setta failed to mention that 30 million people will now be added to Medicaid and that this administration is cutting $500 billion from Medicare at the same time.

Not to mention there is currendy a doctor shortage. How long will you be in the waiting room now, and what kind of care will you receive? Perhaps the reason for the $600-per-senior prescriptions is to ease the pain of being refused real treatment. These are some of the real fears seniors face. Get the facts, and publish the truth. Scott Watkins Brandon Sour grapes Regarding "A day for tears" (Letter of the Day, July 3): To suggest that Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts' children were threatened or that he has a skeleton in his closet because he came to a decision that letter writer Ilene Tacker did not agree with sounds a lot like sour grapes. She says Roberts is brilliant and conservative, but his decision made her cry. Get over it. Baffled and scared The best 'public option' I i I Enough already! I am ready to move beyond the Supreme Court's action on the Affordable Care Act. I believe, like the majority of people, that there are a lot of features beneficial to the public at-large in this law even though there are some glaring omissions.

For the most part, the problem seems to be the partisan fights of the elected legislators, rather than the legislation itself. It does not really satisfy me that "more people will have some sort of health insurance." Being able to obtain insurance does Rao Musunuru VWiVtf---Lnr-JJ fcrana ctet) fixate rasHti cae vinsd te mmitmii eo infer eierdJd fitefwuid teeu ttaiaxi and fraud. They are so shrewd, savvy and unscrupulous many times they seem to get away with it. Of course, a small number of physicians contribute to the problem deliberately, and they ultimately pay the price. Many publications over the years, including an article in the American Journal of Orthopedics (February 2012) concluded that defensive medicine (ordering tests or treatment, even when there is no financial incentive, to avoid possible malpractice liability) is a significant factor in health care costs and is of marginal benefit to patients.

Policies aimed at managing liability risk may be useful in containing such practices, which will be considered judgment calls. All medical specialty and subspecialty organizations are stepping up to their responsibilities and publishing guidelines to prevent waste and abuse. The overwhelming theme seems to be "less is more" and "choose wisely." Government is truly trying hard to deal with fraud issues. The Florida Legislature is acutely aware of difficulties in dealing with criminals, as they are facing problems with pill mills and drug dealers. Dealing with futile end-of-life care issues and comprehensive medical liability reform are two other important issues in combating future escalating health care costs.

It takes a lot of cour-. age and commitment from all parties concerned to address these issues. Preventing illness is the surest way to combat health care costs. It is the cheapest and best "public option." Eat right, move more, don't smoke and drive carefully. Dr.

Rao Musunuru, a practicing cardiologist treating the residents of Pasco and Hernando counties since 1981, Is president of the Pasco County Medical Society. i- Other Views Andy Griffith and Mayberry will live on not mean that health care automatically becomes affordable, considering premiums, co-pays, deductibles and denials. Also, having "some insurance" does not necessarily assure the availability of prudent and prompt health care. In the best-case scenario, even if health care becomes truly affordable and readily available to all residents, can the country afford it and the economy support it? Growing health care costs, unchecked, are going to break the back of this country. Almost everybody believes that overall health care costs are going to keep increasing, reaching 19.8 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.

Fraud, waste and abuse, end-of-life care, defensive medicine and industry greed (hospitals, drugs, devices, insurance companies and middle men) will all contribute to this economic calamity. Finally, physicians get the blame. After all, they are required to order or approve every dollar spent in the health care industry. Many non-medical personnel manage to manipulate the system, including physicians, to facilitate abuse BY ALLEN JOHNSON News tt Record (Greensboro, N.C.) When people in other states think of North Carolina, one of the faces I hope they'll see is Andy Griffith's. Andy was a good and reliable friend to millions of strangers for most of their lives, both in the imaginary world of Mayberry USA and in real life.

And he'll continue to be, through endlessly entertaining reruns of his classic TV comedy, "The Andy Griffith Show." Though Griffith died Tuesday at the age of 86, he'll live on in the arguments of Mayberryfiles over the best episodes. "The Fun "Mr. "Citizen's In poring over one story after another about the show, I discovered that the show once lost in the Emmy race for best comedy to "The Mon-kees" (1967). They ought to lock those voters up in the Mayberry slammer. Part of the show's allure was its decency, its moral center, its colorful characters and the fact that it could be so earnest and hilarious at once.

Another was the skillful manner in which Griffith, a native Southerner, took care not to depict Southerners as bumpkins with cartoonish drawls. There were some memorably funny characters, but the show never poked fun at anyone. It neither resorted to being mean to be entertaining nor being overly sentimental to be touching. That's why I've probably seen some episodes 100 times. And counting..