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.
The Christian Insurances are sort of like co-op insurance. They also will not cover smokers or drinkers, and like younger families. So for clean living young families, they are a really good deal. This gives me an idea. Why can’t the Tea Party people form a co-op insurance? Everyone donates a given amount to form the pool funds. It could also work for retirees for supplemental insurance. We have enough people to do this and it would be one way around the mandate. We are a religious organization. We are religious about freedom.
“...transferring to the govt-subsidized high risk pool being set up to begin this Sept. Lower cost and higher profit for the ins. cos. for now....The pre-existing condition mandate kicks in in 2014.””
My understanding is the high risk pool is for those with known “pre existing conditions” that insurers won’t insure.
And that claims on private insurance cannot be denied for UNknown preexisting conditions, which is the law already in most states.
That the only extension of the so-called “pre existing” rule, as applied to “known” pre-existing conditions, something the insurance companies would not like, applies only to children under 5, and that supposed provision “disappeared” at the last moment.
You make a great point - EVERYONE interested in the ‘civil disobedience’ aspect of this should not fill out the insurance disclosure form with the requisite info. I’m going to claim a constitutional ‘right to privacy’ on my form ... let’s see if those mofo’s at the IRS want to open that can of worms ...
I think that is a great idea.
I do know the rules allow organizations that have been in existence since 1999 in the bill that past. But, who knows?
I do think that eventually, that will be what most people will try to do, and the existing orgs will need other groups to take in all of the people who will want in, when the evil that the government death care is, hits people in the face.
For sure, people will be creative in ways to avoid compliance.
Moral hazard? Hell, pending a double-checking of the language of the bill, I fully plan to drop my health insurance and just wait until I have a claim to buy it again. The individual mandate penalty is less than half my current premium, let alone what my premium will be once community rating kicks in.
It’s the rational thing to do, and I see absolutely nothing immoral about it.
You’re very welcome.
They are an alternative to health insurance, and can be a valid one. Basically, Obamacare is going to force people who don’t have health insurance either into getting it, or into one of a very few options.
I did some research on these three a couple years or so ago. So my information isn’t super-recent, but my ranking of the three based on my perception at the time would be as follows would be that Samaritan Ministries seemed (in my opinion, at least) to be the better choice of the three, followed by CHM and then by Medi-Share.
This was with a priority of satisfaction and effectiveness if one should experience a significant medical need; and with a couple or family in mind. Others with different priorities might make a different choice. Samaritan Ministries was not the cheapest of the three to participate in, for example.
Anyone interested in participating in one of these should of course do their own research. You can get information from each one and compare costs, etc. I would very carefully read the fine print (and there’s a lot of it) that fully explain the distinctives of how each one works. I also recommend digging around for the experiences of people who’ve participated in one or the other, particularly if they have relied upon the assistance in a time of medical need.
...and when the health insurance companies get into big financial trouble,
they will be declared “too big to fail”,
and will be taken over by the federal government.
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