Posted on 03/26/2010 3:44:57 PM PDT by SE Mom
According to a report by Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation, the individual mandate in Obamacare lacks any real enforcement mechanism:
The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.
(h/t to Morgen Richmond at BigGovernment.)
This is probably, to echo the vice-president, a B.F.D. Without effective enforcement of the individual mandate, and with proscriptions against denying coverage on preexisting conditions, you've got yourself the potential for a pretty big moral hazard.
Pass the bill to find out what is in it. Or what ain't.
Yeah, a HUGE train wreck for the insurance industry. The entire bill is designed specifically to drive premiums sky-high and to ultimately bankrupt the insurance companies.
One of two things will happen:
1) Insurance companies go bankrupt, and Obama is “forced” to step in and institute single-payer.
2) Insurance companies hang on longer than planned, and the TOTUS makes a public address to the effect, See, we gave you the greatest health care reform in history, but the insurance companies are still trying to rob you blind. Premiums are up over 300% since I signed the bill, and it all stops right now. We gave the insurance companies a chance to play fair, but now we have no choice but to step in and institute single payer.
After massive premium increases, and a concerted propaganda effort by the MSM, there will be enough strapped citizens to support the government elimination of the remaining insurance companies.
Kidding aside..your comment isn't true either. We will have such a thing as nondenial of benefits due to pre-existing conditions. So....what in the hell stops you from skating until you get sick and then rush to apply for a policy? Nothing....Nothing.. among other things, for this reason alone, we will bankrupt ourselves..
Well- whichever way it goes- government run and insured health care. Period. Nothing private.
This is simply beyond comprehension.
There are three Christian Ministry’s that, are health sharing ministry’s. These kinds of ministry’s are exempt, a way for Christians to go “Amish”, if you will.
http://www.samaritanministries.org/
We could see the mandates declared unconstitutional or nullified by a collection of states but still have the pre-existent disease exclusions still in force, a real Hobson’s choice. Private health insurance companies selling in the US could possibly sell a large group plans through an employer and still be profitable. Small groups and individual polices would obviously be dead. I wonder if it would be possible to buy an international health insurance plan for US coverage? Or perhaps go abroad and directly purchase care or a policy purchased in another country for elective care abroad?
I would still rather have the option of opting out even as a small employer. For me the choice of paying a 2.5% income “fine” or buying a federally qualified plan with coverage mandates that I don’t want is worse than having the ability to simply saving money for health care. Having people opt out would at least allow the public to negotiate prices and this would lower prices. It would certainly be a very strange market. Government health care dominating, maybe some large private group insurance, and cash.
I wonder if the IRS actually has the statutory authority? If not the Dims will need 60 votes unless they completely eliminate cloture. And if everything goes through reconciliation now as the new normal, the Republicans should pledge to repeal with 50 votes + the VP in 2013.
There’s about to be a large surge of underground health care.
I still think I’m living in a play..a dream..
“The presumption here is that the rule of law still means something in America. Those who still believe so are in for a very rude awakening.”
That’s what I’m trying to get across to people.
They can do this in broad daylight, and Americans sit on their fat sheep *sses.
Tell me, what can’t they do at this point?
“The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly.”
Well, my advice via Massachusetts is shot. The insurance companies caught on to the “buy one month of insurance at tax time” trick, and used the government to stop it.
“Pre-existing conditions” is a misunderstanding. There is nothing, nothing in the bill to force companies to sell affordable policies to sick people.
The bill did plan to do that for babies, but they “forgot” to put it in.
Nice move again by the insurance companies.
Well- whichever way it goes- government run and insured health care. Period. Nothing private.
There is one more alternative. That this monster gets struck down on constitutional grounds. Check out this article from yesterday.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614123304945580.html
It is a brilliant explanation of the constitutional issues at stake. It’s long, but well worth your time. You will feel like a frickin constitutional lawyer after digesting it. At the very least, you’ll know million times more about constitutional law than probably all our congresscritters combined.
The article really is that good.
I am sure you are right.
Average Americans are NOT like the typical welfare class robots they are used to.
Most people had no clue as to the importance of the Kelo decision. We just lost our right to our own property. Not that we had that many to begin with. Taxes, you know.
Thanks- I’d seen it posted - now I’ll be sure to read!
“Well- whichever way it goes- government run and insured health care. Period. Nothing private.”
The individual mandates forces one to buy private insurance policies, not government care.
... and they're gonna check on the insurance status of 330+ million people monthly ... HA !!!
Not the title, the posters comment seems 180 out.
Oh, and it will give you plenty of informed, intelligent arguments against this monstrosity. Use them on your friends. That is, if you still have any Liberal friends.
Yss. For now. But it won’t be for long because the insurance companies will be driven out of business. UNLESS the bill is repealed it’s a matter of time.
“Most people had no clue as to the importance of the Kelo decision.”
Kelo is the blooming of private interests using the government to increase profits, like the health bill.
“But it won’t be for long because the insurance companies will be driven out of business.”
How will they be driven out of business? Are investors wrong, the companies’ shares went up.
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