Posted on 10/10/2009 4:30:46 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The health care reform plan working its way through the U.S. Senate now includes a proposal that requires young and healthy Americans to either buy health insurance or pay a $750 annual penalty for not having it.
But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 55% of U.S. voters oppose that proposal. Among voters ages 18 to 29, 29% favor the provision, known as “the individual mandate,” while 57% are opposed to it.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of men oppose the enforced health insurance proposal, compared to 50% of women. African-American voters are nearly twice as likely as whites to support it.
As on many questions related to the contentious health care debate, there is a noticeable partisan divide. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans and 59% of voters not affiliated with either major political party oppose requiring young and healthy Americans to either buy health insurance or pay an annual penalty. Among Democrats, on the other hand, 46% think the provision is a good idea, while 33% oppose it.
Millions of young people historically have chosen to avoid the cost of health insurance by gambling on their general good health at that age. The individual mandate is intended to push them into buying health insurance.
In a survey in May, 31% of Americans said even those who are young and healthy should be required to buy health coverage. Fifty-six percent (56%) disagreed, saying if someone doesn’t want to buy insurance, they shouldn't have to.
While most voters oppose the “individual mandate” amendment to the health care plan, 59% favor putting a provision in the plan that would prohibit any new taxes, fees or penalties on families who make less than $250,000 a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Your suggestion could work - it is actually quite good. I didn’t mean to imply I favored mandatory insurance, I don’t. We have a huge problem with “freeloaders” in this country. Since it is quite obvious they are not going to become responsible on their own accord, I just try to keep an open mind about things that will make them accountable. In the end, I have way too much of a libertarian streak to go for it.-—JM
From forcing incandescent light bulbs out of the market place to this threat of huge fines and jail time that is disproportionate to the minor act involved, I am getting tired of the pushiness of our elected public servants.
Other countries do not have such an abusive attitude towards their own people.
These people aren’t necessarily leeches.
Some of them literally cannot afford to pay out the wazoo for something they rarely need (I have heard and read it said that all they have to do is cut out cable tv and they can afford it. There is no way it’s that simple and cut and dried.). I know; I and others of my aquaintance are THERE. I agree only on the point that people in this situation should have options and be encouraged to have some type of health coverage THAT FITS THEM.
But this is not what is happening now, and if the government controls it all, what little of it that is happening now will be destroyed.
You are seperating out an issue that especially angers you from the fact that all of us are about to lose our freedoms AND the best of healthcare that we now have.
And you are making a case that it hurts others who have insurance or personal wealth when, those who don’t, go to the hospital.
It does, but not as much as all will be hurt by what is about to be forced upon us.
Therefore, I choose to debate the destructive situation we face as opposed to the point that you seperate out from it.
You are correct that many people who have issues are not leeches.
Five years ago I was diagnosed and treated for cancer. So far I am fortunate it has not reoccurred.
I recently lost my job due to downsizing. I’m now paying the full cost of my medical insurance through Cobra. In 16 months if I have not found another job with health insurance Cobra will expire and I will have no health insurance. I’ve already check with private insurance companies about an individual policy and have learned they either will not insure me or will charge 4-5 times my current premiums to obtain much less coverage.
There has been much written about people with preexisting conditions wanting to buy insurance at the time they have a problem. What about the millions of us who have conditions but have been paying insurance premiums for decades and face losing our insurance due to loss of a job in this economy?
Look at homeowner’s insurance. I’ve never made a claim. If my house burns down next week, the insurance company will pay the claim and not cancel my insurance or raise the premium. The premise is that I’ve paid in for years and the insurance is there to pay off in the event it is needed.
Employer based insurance, without portability, is different. The individual and her/his employer pays into the system. However, once a condition occurs, if the individual’s job situation changes that condition may prevent the individual who has faithfully paid into the system from obtaining future coverage at any price.
That's the principle being violated here, and I'm surprised most people apparently don't "get it."
This "fair's fair" crap is just that.
This is the reason government-run health care is wrong, on so many levels.
I won't pay a Citizenship Tax because I will not subordinate Individual sovereignty to a bunch of useless parasitical bureaucrats.
This will turn principled Conservatives into outlaws and reward non-citizens with a superior status.
If it isn't an establishment of a state religion then it is an attempt to remake the U.S. government into God's image.
Let's be clear, since the Bureaucrats are clear. If this bill passes, older Americans will certainly die younger than they would otherwise. The quality of care will be reduced for everyone to the lowest common denominator.
Some people may thank that's taking the whole "fairness" thing a step too far.
Yikes, who is the other 45% ?
I concur with your statements...I do not want the lack of health insurance to be a death sentence either.
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