Healthcare bill: Buy insurance or go to jail!

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."

The note was a follow-up to Ensign's questioning at the markup.
www.politico.com...


Here is the letter:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ff246966b888.jpg[/atsimg]

If the American people support the government sending people to jail for not buying health insurance then the America I once knew is dead. It is unacceptable to allow the federal government to have this kind of power and control over the people. How long will people accept their freedoms being taken away? I will fight this with all I have. Try to put me in jail if I don't buy insurance.

the sad thing is it is too late. anyone that speaks up is called a bafoon. anyone that talks with their family is a nut. my opinion let it start. so tired of being called a nut, when everyone is watching who wants to be a millionaire. let these fines, penalties, kick in, then maybe, just maybe, people might wake the heck up

reply to post by Erasurehead


Don'tyou just loooooove this administration?

Are there reeducation camps involved as well?

Might as well book a room now.

Taking a person's right to choose not to have coverage away... Some young people, perhaps just out of college or working in a lower paying job where they are literally living from paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford health insurance will be forced to get coverage that will leave them broke, these are the people who will learn what they lost here first. Freedom!

These are the people who already can't afford to go to the doctor because they literally can barely afford to pay for a roof over their heads and food alone... And the Obama administration wants to take that away from them.

How much will it take to break your budget?

You will pay, one way or the other. You will have no choice, you can be fined, and even sent to jail.

You want health care reform.... Go for it.

The end game in health care reform is for the government to expand further than ever before by taking over one of the largest capitalist systems in the US economy.

Just look long and hard at what has already been nationalized, and imagine what it will mean for this government to also have control over health care.

Change eh?

You are all blowing this out of proportion.

First of all, Obama said during his health care reform address a few weeks ago that there would be options for people who cannot afford insurance. A bare bones plan for catastrophic injury on the cheap, or government waivers for people who simply can't afford it. You aren't being suckered into a clever ploy to send you to a FEMA camp because you can't afford insurance.


Secondly, this plan actually makes sense. It makes sense for the same reason that we are obligated to have automobile insurance. So that we don't burden others with our liability. If someone smashes into my car, I know I don't have to pursue litigation to get money to fix my car. The mandatory insurance covers it.

Same thing with people who show up at emergency rooms for treatment who have no money or insurance. The hospitals have to foot the bill, which is one of the reasons why health care is so expensive anyway.

Compulsory insurance solves that problem.

reply to post by suicydking


Obligating us to have health insurance to auto insurance is like having the government tell us to buy a car in the first place.

That dog won't hunt.

With a robust public option, even that fresh faced new college graduate will be able to afford it, that's the point, to make it affordable and accessible enough for all Americans.

Originally posted by mikerussellus
reply to post by suicydking

 

Obligating us to have health insurance to auto insurance is like having the government tell us to buy a car in the first place.

That dog won't hunt.

Why not? If someone who can't afford health insurance gets hit by a car, they get taken to the ER & the hospital foots the bill.

If that same person were driving, insurance would cover damage to the car.

Why should the burden of liability be covered for something artificial like a car, but not for a living human being?

Society is already paying for the uninsured to get their minor health emergencies paid for, too. Like if someone needs antibiotics for strep throat. Except now, the cost is through the emergency room, where costs are exponentially higher than a doctor's office, not to mention the people with actual traumatic injuries who would rather have a triage doctor's time.

Originally posted by suicydking
Obama said

That is where the problems begin, because Obama himself does not have a plan, and I am beginning to wonder if he even knows what is in the several versions of health care reform bills.

He is simply pimping the agenda to the people, as any really good salesman would.

In sales, how much truth will you actually deliver?

How much will you distort that truth, or even lie to sell your product?

A good sales staff is always coached in how they should sell a product, the truth and facts are irrelevant to the goal.

You can look at it any way you want, but the truth is that for many people who will fall into the income levels that require coverage this will mean that they will be forced to get coverage they cannot afford... Or else.

It is the only way the government run system can work, a combination of controlling services and treatments along with forcing people without coverage to pay is the only way the government can do it without massive costs.

That all must be done before they can get to a single payer system that is truly affordable for all.

It doesn't matter what I or Obama or anyone says at this point, if they pass health care reform there are certain things that must be in it.

The economy is bad and getting worse, people are trying to survive as best they can, those who are working will have to pay for those who are not... That fact will not be missed in the final version of health care reform legislation, nor will the ultimate massive controlling bureaucracy that will control costs in heath care. These points are not negotiable.

Either reform passes or it does not.

It's a matter of time now.

reply to post by suicydking


The option to buy a car is voluntary. No one is forcing anyone to purchase a vehicle.

On healthcare we have NO other choice. If it's just 3 dollars a year, it's too much. I won't throw needless quotes about the cost of freedom/liberty, but I will say that any, and I mean anything that the government TELLS you to buy, is a loss for freedom.

This debate is a classic example of deflection from the topical point. And that is healthcare itself. We've moved away from having the debate on whether healthcare should be controlled by the government AT ALL to how much it's going to cost.

Healthcare is NOT a right garanteed by the constitution. It never was. Nor should it ever be. It is just about control.

Raise taxes on cigarettes, because smoking is bad for you.
Raise taxes on soda, because too much soda is bad for you.

Whether you smoke or drink pop is not the point. These are the first steps to a "nanny state" where some fat b######d is telling you how to live your life.

And to me, that is simply unentenable. (sp?)

Originally posted by mikerussellus
reply to post by suicydking

 

The option to buy a car is voluntary. No one is forcing anyone to purchase a vehicle.

On healthcare we have NO other choice. If it's just 3 dollars a year, it's too much. I won't throw needless quotes about the cost of freedom/liberty, but I will say that any, and I mean anything that the government TELLS you to buy, is a loss for freedom.

This debate is a classic example of deflection from the topical point. And that is healthcare itself. We've moved away from having the debate on whether healthcare should be controlled by the government AT ALL to how much it's going to cost.

Healthcare is NOT a right garanteed by the constitution. It never was. Nor should it ever be. It is just about control.

Raise taxes on cigarettes, because smoking is bad for you.
Raise taxes on soda, because too much soda is bad for you.

Whether you smoke or drink pop is not the point. These are the first steps to a "nanny state" where some fat b######d is telling you how to live your life.

And to me, that is simply unentenable. (sp?)

You are correct. No one is forced to buy a car. However, no one has the option of not being a human. Being a human, you are susceptible to disease, sickness and catastrophic injury. So to continue the analogy, were drivers as soon as we're born in so far as the insurance/liability factor goes.

Now, what you were saying about buying a car being voluntary...
No one is forcing you to smoke.
No one is forcing you to drink pop.

But, by doing these things, you increase your risk for diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, morbid obesity, diabetes, etc. Hopefully the taxes will help to offset the cost levied to society for the uninsured seeking treatment for these ailments.

Ongoing discussion...

Here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thread closed.