http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090703/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul;_ylt=ApILK9G1_gQH4Fkm_eLZBv0Sq594;_ylu=X3oDMTE1MHVlM2hwBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bi1jaGFubmVsBHNsawN1bmRlcnNlbmF0ZWg-
WASHINGTON – First you paid to insure your car. Soon you may have to add health insurance premiums to that stack of monthly bills as well.
In a revamped health care system envisioned by senators, people would be required to carry health insurance just like motorists must get auto coverage now. The government would provide subsidies for the poor and many middle-class families, but those who still refuse to sign up would face fines of more than $1,000.
The details were unveiled Thursday in a health care overhaul bill supported by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines would raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Senate aides said the penalties would be modeled on the approach taken by Massachusetts, which now imposes a fine of about $1,000 a year on individuals who refuse to get coverage. Under the federal legislation, families would pay higher penalties than individuals.
bash……..”but it is imperitave that your choices don’t affect my pocket book”
lol……….that’s kinda funny. It’s like reverse libertarianism.
June 2, 2010 @ 3:08 am
Republicans did in my MA state. Worked pretty well for Republican crush Mitt Romney
June 2, 2010 @ 3:31 am
Im 24…and dont need it.
I guess this is a tax on those…who are responsible without children and healthy who run…daily.
Reply to Bigfoot…
On the census, all you have to do is fill out your name and how many are in your household i believe.
June 2, 2010 @ 4:27 am
No, I don’t know what we do with people who can’t afford it.
I hate my country. It’s beginning to get frightening just living here. They sent me some census thing saying I would be fined $500 if I didn’t fill it out. The government has just become the mob threatening everyone.
June 2, 2010 @ 4:36 am
Yeah, fine poor people, that’s genius!
June 2, 2010 @ 4:46 am
Yes. The uninsured cost US Taxpayers 58 billion per year in medical write offs and bankruptcies. It’s your choice not to be insured, but it is imperitave that your choices don’t affect my pocket book to the tune of 58 billion dollars.
June 2, 2010 @ 5:33 am
No, absolutely not. The sad thing about this is that it will hit poor people the hardest. Why should the government have the authority to fine anyone $1000 or more if they can’t afford to buy health insurance. This is just another scam to line the pockets of the government while punishing it’s citizens. Deplorable.
June 2, 2010 @ 6:24 am
No. It is an unconscionable assault on our freedom of choice as to what type of care we choose.
What about the many millions of people who prefer traditional medicine over orthodox pharmaceutical based medicine.
Why should people be forced to pay for a service that they will never use?
For many consumers of traditional medicine, this will strip them of their freedom to choose because they will not have the resources to pay for both systems.
This is more evidence that the agenda for national health care is PROFIT – more profit to the insurance companies and most importantly, more profit to the pharmaceutical corporations. Are people naive enough to believe that the elite-controlled politicians would entertain this if there were not massive profits to be made?
June 2, 2010 @ 7:17 am
Criminals. We are a nation run by criminals.
Dude, where’s my country?
June 2, 2010 @ 7:21 am
would defeat the purpose of being free don’t you think? Health insurance is a monopoly of choice. If they are going to mandate it then they should just provide it… Then again that’s what they are trying to do. Sigh the system that fines people is only there to weaken the individual further and enable government from walking on you further.
What about the poor who don’t have jobs?
What about people who have minimum wage jobs and don’t have it?
What about the hard working Americans who get laid off and have to pay out of there already diminished unemployment checks?
I live in Mass where they fine people who don’t have it and its funny how more of the middle class are heading into poverty.
I hate big government and I hate fines. They are only there to generate revenue and that is what taxes are suppose to do. With more fines will come more money and more borrowing by our government.
Some say apply for Mass health yet if you make 7.25 an hour and are single and only work thirty hours you are still 80% above the poverty rate. Is that fair? No and neither is government. We have too many high society people disconnected from the poor and middle class making the rules and that is why these laws lack any common sense or decency for fellow man.
June 2, 2010 @ 7:48 am
So, if you lose your job and cant afford insurance the democrats led by Obama are gonna kick you when you are down with a $1000 penalty.
What makes them think if one cant afford insurance that they can afford a $1000 fine?
June 2, 2010 @ 8:19 am
I agree with Ruby.
A lot of people don’t even use the allopathic doctors which are covered by health insurance. That’s because they don’t have faith in them and because there are better ways to deal with health problems.
Why should anyone be forced to pay into a system which subsidizes other people who run to allopathic doctors?
Health insurance is also not insurance for catastrophic risks. Plenty of people with “health insurance” go into bankruptcy when a health disaster strikes.
June 2, 2010 @ 9:00 am
The Obama supporters thought is was all going to be free. Nothing is free.