Mandate...shmandate...
The stae of our economy is the same....
Posted on 07/06/2012 2:19:49 PM PDT by markomalley
President Obama, confronted with the issue of the Supreme Court upholding his health care law by declaring the individual mandate a tax, contradicted the court by saying that the individual mandate “penalize[s]” Americans rather than taxes them.
“You have to take responsibility, and if you don’t, you’re going to be penalized for it, and that’s the right thing to do,” Obama told WDTN-NBC while defending the individual mandate. He also denied that the court’s ruling means that he has raised taxes through Obamacare. “I have consistently kept my promise not to raise taxes on people [making] under $250,000 a year.”
Obama effectively contradicted Chief Justice John Roberts. “[T]he shared responsibility mandate may for constitutional purposes be considered a tax, not a penalty,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, before concluding, “It is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but choose to go without health insurance.”
The president argued that “it’s estimated that less than one percent of the people throughout the United States will be impacted by this so-called individual mandate.” Obama explained that “whether you call it a tax, a penalty, a mandate — whatever you call it, what it is, is, if you can afford to buy health insurance don’t dump those costs on someone else. You have to take responsibility, and if you don’t, you’re going to be penalized for it, and that’s the right thing to do.”
By saying that the individual mandate is necessary because failure to get health insurance harms society, the president made the basic Commerce Clause argument that Chief Justice John Roberts ruled unconstitutional. “People, for reasons of their own, often fail to do things that would be good for them or good for society,” Roberts wrote. “Under the Government’s logic, that authorizes Congress to use its commerce power to compel citizens to act as the Government would have them act. That is not the country the Framers of our Constitution envisioned.”
“You have to take responsibility, and if you don’t, you’re going to be penalized for it, and that’s the right thing to do.”
Responsibility...big word...how is it a responsibility? Because the obama admin says so! Health insurance or better yet health care is a just another product we are able to choose. By “mandating” that one has to buy a health ins policy or get penalized (an action normally determined in a court of law), and being assessed a fine through the IRS, this is a tax. Yet this is only a tax on someone who is being discriminated against by “NOT” being considered an exempted group. Exempted group...no health insurance requirement, no fine/penalty/mandate.
"Tax" is a dirty word to employ while trolling for votes.
Spent a few years working in Hollywood with some rather intelligent leftist. There were some Libertarians, but mostly lefties. Ended up discussing auto regulations with a hard core 60's leftist. He was telling me how great it was that safety was being increased by regulations. I asked him about the poor and lower middle class. How could they ever afford to buy a new car, since the regulations have driven the price of automobiles so high. He flat out stated, who cares about the poor. That from a hard core progressive.
Brilliant! That is awesome. Thanks! That's a keeper.
The last I saw about Bummercare, the indigent were to be excused from the penalty and would continue to be covered under medical welfare plans. However, what a way to encourage the nonworking to begin working again. (NOT)
They get the same thing they get now, if they are lucky. Show up at an emergency center and wait. The hospital used to get a write off for treating them. Although now the uninsured will have an extra negative stigma associated with being poor. And the hospitals may not need the write offs, since they will be bleeding their bottom lines treating stubbed toes and nose bleeds.
Wont affect me none since I would not go into a modern hospital if my life depended on it.
Obamacare is an affront to LIBERTY because it seeks to “save” people from the consequences of their OWN actions — like smoking, drinking, eating crappy food, etc. The essential element of liberty is that you TAKE YOUR OWN CHANCES and reap the benefits/consequences of that. Bad genetics?
Well, then, you should PLAN for that by getting at least a major medical plan and taking care of yourself. If you expect me to foot the bill for YOUR health then neither of us are free! I for one would RATHER DIE FREE than accept Obamacare!
We have too many programs like this already. Food stamps are an egregious example. They are downright evil. Going hungry — and ultimately facing starvation — has been a prime motivator since we left the Garden of Eden thousands of years ago. That has driven human ingenuity and the development of the work ethic. Take that away and you steal a great deal of dignity from those you “help” and make a SLAVE of yourself! Thanks to food stamps, millions of Americans now have ZERO incentive to work!
Obamacare is intended to complete the process of making ALL Americans into zoo animals dependent on our keepers! I WILL NOT SUBMIT!
They cannot afford to pay for health care for all the poor and lower middle class. Our government is over 10 trillion in debt. They will setup conditions and the people who are just above their poverty line and just below the point of being able to afford insurance, wont get anything.
So if you’re black and have the media in your pocket, you can have it both ways? I here vow that I will NEVER pay a dime of this tax, no matter what. If enough Americans refuse to pay, what are they going to do, put us all in concentration camps?
Instead of arguing about this one point, I wish Republicans would concentrate their arguments on all the other taxes in the stupid law: taxes on medical devices, tanning beds, etc.
One week after the decision and the president is publicly contradicting it. So much for maintaining the credibility of the court I guess.
Nice work, Roberts.
When the IRS sends you the bill for not having insurance, send them a letter they cannot refuse. Tell them you are a Muslim.
Mandate...shmandate...
The stae of our economy is the same....
Nah...concentration camps would be too expensive.
Since the Infernal Revenue is the “agent of collection” I would expect attachment of wages (including ss benefits) or confiscation of property.
I’m sure they will provide large cardboard boxes for those in non-compliance to live in.
It’s either a tax or it’s illegal (unconstitutional).
Only the truly stupid are buying The Kenyan’s krap.
quote “I can’t believe they still haven’t started referring to it as a tax deduction/credit for having health insurance.”
BINGO!
which is exactly what Roberts was basically saying when he called it a tax and upheld it as constitutional.
It’s really no different than the homeowners deduction or the marriage penalty, it’s just about the words.
If you think of the home owners deduction as ... a homeowning mandate, and the marriage penalty as a stay single mandate you will quickly see the logic to Roberts ruling.
Jobs, spending, taxes... it matters not. This (fill in the blank) just pulls numbers out of his arse whenever he wants to make a point.
LLS
Setting the stage for Democrats once more to keen their song about oh how awful, how unfair (with an even more socialistic solution).
IF it lives. I believe that even Mitt Romney recognizes it as so odious a burden (Massachusetts is one story, the whole USA is another) that he’ll first neuter it with EOs as promised then sign a bill to repeal it containing some kind of vague promise to study the question of how to do something better.
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