IRS Seizes Confidential Medical Records, Ignores Bill of Rights
It seems the IRS can’t keep itself on an even keel these days. Amidst the tremendous uproar following proof that the IRS intentionally singled out conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny, it now seems it has taken its policies of breaking the law into the medical field, as well.
When the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) was upheld as Constitutional by the Supreme Court, it was justified by the fact that Congress had the power to control health care as part of its power to tax; the policy would be administered through the IRS, and so it was Constitutional. Welcome to modern Washington D.C. logic.
If it doesn’t seem to make sense to you, don’t worry; many members of Congress are befuddled by its logic as well, and the House has tried to overturn the law over thirty times. Indeed, the Supreme Court itself passed it by the thinnest of margins: 5 justices were for it, 4 were against it.
But by the reasoning used by Chief Justice Roberts – and it was his vote that turned out to be the deciding vote – Obamacare and its stipulation that all citizens needed to be covered by health insurance or face a stiff penalty fell under the auspices of tax law, then the Supreme Court got it right. As the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
And here comes the fun part, when yet another IRS scandal is coming to light and inevitably trial: on March 11, 2011, fifteen IRS agents are being sued for waltzing into a medical office in the southern district of California and confiscating 60,000,000 medical records. And yes, you read that right: sixty million records. These were the confidential medical records of 10,000,000 U.S. citizens. These fifteen IRS agents didn’t have a judicially sanctioned warrant, didn’t have a writ of assistance, and no probable cause to conduct such an illegal raid. And it was illegal; the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Yet these fifteen IRS agents chose to disregards the U.S. Constitution and conduct their raid anyway. It was a blatant abuse of power. It is also worth noting that the party that is suing these fifteen IRS agents also allege that while they were illegally confiscating millions of medical records, they decided to watch a basketball game on TV, order up some pizza, and wash it down with some Coke. If that doesn’t paint the perfect picture of government agents abusing their power, I don’t know what does.
