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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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With the U.S. Supreme Court considering health-care reform, we thought we’d mention that (a) our health-insurance rates are down, (b) we appreciate the tax credits for our small business, and (c) we’ve already seen cases where pre-existing conditions or gaps in coverage—which used to keep employees from getting insurance—are no longer barriers to coverage. Health insurance in this country used to suck; now it sucks less.

For those of you hoping the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate, think about two things. First, the tax code doles out favors based on what we buy (and sell) all the time: a mortgage-interest deduction for homeowners, but nothing for renters; lower capital-gains taxes for income derived from stock sales; tax credits for child care; extra taxes on beer and cigarettes. The idea that one might pay a tax or a penalty if you don’t have adequate health insurance is not only a good idea, it’s also a GOP idea, introduced by 20 Republican senators back during the “Hillarycare” debates in Bill Clinton’s first term in office.

Second, if we don’t have everyone paying into the system via the private insurance system, then guess what? Do you really think this country is going back to insurance that sucks more? We doubt it. The Supreme Court overruling the individual mandate is going to lead to one thing—a public option. And that will be something perfectly acceptable to the Supreme Court—like the Medicare tax that comes out of your check every pay period.

Get ready.

Previous Comments

All I have say about ‘Obamacare’ is this: If you were out of a job for whatever reason, you didn’t have a savings because your employer could not afford to pay you enough, and all of a sudden you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or worse, lung cancer because you smoked all of those years; the cobra health care is too expensive…But, you need health care. ‘Obamacare’ is crucial. Many look at it like “he’s” bullying them to provide health care to employees, but what if you were not in the position you are in now? Would you want someone to do the same for you? I am not saying everything about universal health care is right or wrong, I am simply looking at the pros and cons. I’d rather have the policy in place now for when, and if in the future something happens and my pre-existing condition may prevent me from receiving coverage…


I’d favor a public option, something I wish the president would have lobbied harder for. I’m not really crazy about the individual mandate, but in lieu of a public option, I understand why it’s there. It’s amazing to see how the GOP are suddenly against the individual mandate, when it’s been their own idea. But, of course, anything Obama is for, they have to take the opposite position, even if it’s their own.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.