You are not only articulate, you are also...wrong.
Massachusetts now forces people, via the new law, to obtain health insurance, whether they want to or not. That's not freedom, that's mandatory governmental dictate. You may counter with the car insurance argument, but I say that also is not freedom.
My argument is this: if the government is going to force us to buy a product, then they should force the businesses who supply that product to make it affordable to the least common denominator among us. Let's get real here, when was the last time your car insurance company (a multi-billion industry) offered you a break on your monthly premium? The government forces us to pay...then they should also force the insurance companies to make it cost 10 dollars a year! And if you don't like it, too damn bad, it's the LAW!!!
Out of Choice and damn near out of a free country in Arizona
You said, in part: Massachusetts now forces people, via the new law, to obtain health insurance, whether they want to or not. That's not freedom, that's mandatory governmental dictate. You may counter with the car insurance argument, but I say that also is not freedom.
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In the abstract, I agree with you. The problem here is that health care is not CONSIDERED a typical market product. If you come into my office for legal services, and cannot pay, I refuse to handle your matter. If you walk into a grocery store for a banana, and can't pay, you don't get the banana. Not so with health care. If your leg is broken and you show up at an ER, they get your insurance information, but if you have none, you are not turned away. You are treated, and, productive society, get to pay.
Either we make health care a market-driven system, and require payment for services or else deny those services, or we require individuals to maintain health care coverage, upon pain of state action. We do this with car liability insurance. There is still a market out there for that coverage. The same would likely hold true for health care insurance. If you don't want auto liability coverage, don't plan on driving.
Unfortunately, we don't seem to have the stomach for denying health care for those who refuse to cover themselves and their dependants. Health care has somehow become a "right" (how a benefit that requires others to provide it can be a right I will never know). As long as it is perceived as a right, it will never be denied. On the other hand, if people knew that they would get no care if they failed to maintain insurance, the very vast majority would do so. I am great believer in the ability of people to reach reasonable expectations.