Benjamin Domenech
Domenech joined Heartland in 2009 after several years working and writing on national health care policy, beginning with a political appointment as speechwriter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, and continuing as chief speechwriter for U.S. Senator John Cornyn during the Medicare Part D debate on Capitol Hill.
In addition to his work with Heartland and The Federalist, Domenech is the publisher of a daily subscription newsletter, The Transom, which is read daily by thousands of political insiders.
Domenech co-founded Redstate andhosts a popular podcast on market issues in the global economy -- and for which he won a "Sammy" award in 2011 — called Coffee & Markets.
In 2009 he was selected as a Journalism Fellow by the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution.
Latest posts by Benjamin Domenech (see all)
- Three Potential Paths Post-Obamacare Ruling - March 14, 2015
- Heartland Daily Podcast – Ben Domenech: The Vaccine Debate - February 6, 2015
- The Insane Vaccine Debate - February 5, 2015
“This case isn’t about health insurance. It isn’t about health care. It’s about liberty.”
That was one of the first things Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) said yesterday at his press conference following the release of Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. You can find the text of the Obamacare decision here.
Cuccinelli took the time to chat with me last night about the case, and what it means for the country going forward. 
We discussed the issue of severability (he gave a great layman’s description of what it means) as well as what the Founding Fathers would’ve thought of this debate.
As we discuss the individual mandate, I’d urge you all to keep three things in mind. First, just getting rid of the individual mandate leaves many of the bad things about this law intact, in ways that would destroy the private market (but save taxpayers billions). Second, while Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and others have claimed that it’s possible to “opt-out” of the individual mandate, that’s simply not true as I’ve written time and again. And third, though the Supreme Court likely won’t decide this issue til 2012, that doesn’t mean you should just wait to see what happens.
I strongly recommend people take Cuccinelli’s advice about how to respond to this decision, and that state legislators and policy leaders read Grace-Marie Turner’s compilation of nine things they can do to respond to Obamacare. While the Courts may decide this issue, that doesn’t mean we should sit on our hands waiting.
