Posted on 12/31/2007 3:40:22 PM PST by Reagan Man
Massachusetts residents who remain uninsured in 2008 will begin facing monthly fines based on their age and income, according to new regulations unveiled by the Department of Revenue on Monday.
Here are how much different people may have to pay:
The highest fines are leveled at those earning three times the annual federal poverty level, or $30,636 for an individual. Individuals aged 27 or older who are over that income threshold will pay the top fine of $76 a month, or $912 a year.
Married couples earning more than $41,076 would each have to pay the top fine for a combined penalty of $1,824 if they are both uninsured for the entire year.
Those aged 18-26 earning more than $30,636 will pay $56 a month or $672 a year.
Individuals earning between $20,425 and $25,536 face a $420 fine for the year. Those earning between $15,325 and $20,424 face a $210 fine.
There are no fines for individuals earning less than $15,325.
I won’t attack you, I promise. You make a good point.
Many people are uninsured in this country. Many people are uninsured, more importantly, by choice. They are taking a calculated risk that they will not fall ill in any serious way. But what happens when they do? Can they pay, or do they stick the state with it?
There is a good point buried somewhere in there, but there are also some nanny-state points that are pretty obvious.
What does Romney-Care do when people show up at the Emergency Room with life threatening conditions and no health insurance?
Why should I, or anyone else be forced by state power for this problem? Does the state force me for the problems of winos drinking in dive bars? Does the state have to force me for fat people’s gym costs? Where does it end, in one group of people having a problem and the state using it as an excuse to drag everyone, every freaking one of us down some crap filled goosed of socalled ‘plan’?
Hey, I got a conservative idea. If a small group has a problem, the rest of us, the majority, get left alone.
How’s that?
Gee, maybe I should go to Harvard or something.
If you don’t pay will the State foreclose on your body..??,,,or take all you have...?
My understanding is the state funded free care pool still kicks in if the person is insolvent and the bill can’t be paid.
The goal of the Mass plan is to eventually lower the number of people making the adverse selection against buying health insurance before illness, and thereby reduce the demand on the free care pool over time.
Did you mean taxpayer funded?
Does your state force you to have auto insurance?
/sarcasm
No.
No. But thanks for admitting the reality of this being a state forced action.
The dude is Hillary with nicer hair!
These are the loser mooches who are driving the delusional invention "government universal health care", which the National Communist Witch keeps pushing.
Look at the comments on forums. These losers have money for everything except health care premiums.
Virtually everybody can afford health care, except perhaps those already on welfare for generations...
They know who they are.
So the question remains, who is forcing whom to pay? That’s why I’m not reflexively against the INDIVIDUAL MANDATE/PENALTY to address the free-rider problem.
From my perspective, the EMPLOYER MANDATES are the worst part of the plan that were added by the legislature over Romney’s veto.
"yenmor, yenmor, yenmor, YENMOR!, YENMOR!!!"
The individuals Romney wants to punish aren't the free-riders.
Die, I hope.
I have coverned all my children's medical bills, as well as my own, all my life. I made choices and went without tons of stuff. I expect to continue doing so the rest of my life. Anyone who is not a society's pet can do likewise.
Like, where have we heard all this before? The UK? Cuba? Bueller? Anyone.
The great thing is that Willard The Wonder Boy who worked about two years and then went on his hunt for the Presidency and sold us out for a photo op and talking points for his own naked ambition.
What a AH.
And this is the ‘conservative’ that has so many carrying his water. And on Free Republic too! ( Of course since Willard is a conservative he’s probably been a lurker if not a poster. Right? Right?)
If it waddles like a duck...
True, for many, health insurance turns out to be a “bet” without a return, as with all insurance. People with income and savings who can pay for care, however, tend to want at least catastrophic coverage.
But for one reason or another, our society is unwilling withhold care from those who haven’t made the resources available to pay for it. Until then, there will be a transfer of income and resources from those who have to those who haven’t.
Agree or disagree, Romney’s is one approach to address the free-rider problem.
Penalize the innocent with the guilty. After all, socialized medicine takes priority.
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