A big tip of the hat to the Politico’s Live Pulse blog, which reports:
“Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.
“Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it “Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.”
The note was a follow-up to Ensign’s questioning at the markup.”
Read the blog with comments here.
This reminds me of the old Cold War gag “You will do this … and you will like it!” But honestly, do we really want a health care plan that puts people in jail who fail to pay a penalty of up to $1,900 for not having health care?
I listened to a speech by former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who was Health and Human Services secretary in the Bush administration. He warns that healthy individuals and families will experience severe premium increases in order to support the type of plan being debated in Congress. “Sticker shock,” he called it.
Does the idea of hunting someone, catching him or her and prosecuting because they can’t or don’t want to pay a mandatory health care insurance fine bother you? I guess that’s part of the debate we’re having now.
Willbike
on Sep 26th, 2009
@ 9:12 am:
“Does the idea of hunting someone, catching him or her and prosecuting because they can’t or don’t want to pay a mandatory health care insurance fine bother you?”
Where exactly in the bill does it state that people will be “hunted?” You have learned your GOP scare tactics well Doug.
As for the rest of it, it all sounds fair. We already pay for people that don’t have insurance through increased costs on everything. We are already paying for people that don’t have insurance. Putting a system in place to help people get insurance and then punishing those that still refuse does not bother me one bit.
laytonian
on Sep 26th, 2009
@ 9:51 am:
We’re also paying for people who don’t *want* to pay for health insurance, like my self-employed relatives who deduct the costs of their “medical vacations”. They laugh at everyone who’s paying for insurance.
Then, there’s the opposite side: our neighbor who was on vacation in Japan, who had to be hospitalized with chest pains. After efficient surgery to install a stent, payment on his credit card, he was released.
In the US, when he’d had similar surgery, his (FEHBP) healthcare plan paid most of the $30K bill.
But a year after the treatment in Japan, though, he is still fighting with the same insurance company over the $10K bill!
Since when is Mike “Toupee Man” Leavitt a valid expert on health care, when he sat on his arse for years, doing nothing? He was the HHS secretary, an insurance man, and HE should have been qualified to lead a healthcare reform effort. But no.
The Party of No with their scare tactics of “death panels” and now “we’ll hunt you down”.
The Captcha code for this posting is “seamiest Traditional”, which pretty much fits the subject.
mark shenefelt
on Sep 26th, 2009
@ 11:28 am:
That is a very bad provision and surely will be cut from any bill that’s serious. But it will be added to the list of eternal sins and we’ll be seeing a lot of ‘They want to HUNT YOU and PUT YOU IN JAIL’ GOP campaigns.
It’s right up there with the Cleon Skousen-Glenn Beck ‘you’re in danger, the commies are coming’ foolishness.
It also reminds me a little of Jason Chaffetz, ‘They want to SCAN MY WIFE’S NAKED BODY’ and BE RUDE TO REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEN’ who use gutter language to federal employees at the airport.
midwinter
on Sep 26th, 2009
@ 3:36 pm:
So the question is “should people who drive up medical costs for everyone be allowed to not pay the fine for driving up the costs for everyone?” Or is the question “Should people who break the law get away with it?”
Do I have that right?
Or maybe the question is this: who are these people who do not want medical insurance and what is wrong with them?
Carl Kove
on Sep 26th, 2009
@ 5:38 pm:
Thank heavens there is no penalty for driving a vehicle without automobile insurance. If you get ’sent to jail’ for no health insurance you qualify for medical care while incarcated. Anyone see the irony in that?
laytonian
on Sep 27th, 2009
@ 12:58 pm:
Surely, Carl Kove, you jest.
You’re unaware that in Utah, you are required to carry no-fault automobile insurance (a separate requirement from whatever a lienholder may require)?
http://dmv.utah.gov/registerinsurance.html#requirements
What other laws are you ignoring/unaware of?
Catherine Burt
on Sep 28th, 2009
@ 6:44 am:
People who don’t want to buy health insurance should simply have to pay out of pocket at an unsubsidized rate. I promise they will only do it once.
I don’t trust the government to give ample allowances for people who can’t afford the insurance. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to decide how much of my money I get to keep… how much of my own income I need to live on. From my experience with student loans, they don’t think I need to feed my pets, have an internet connection, or buy any clothes… they also think that $100 a month for food is sufficient (that’s half the monthly amount a single person would get from food stamps!!!)
I think the manditory insurance thing is going to be another bitter pill for the American people to swallow.
Carl Kove
on Sep 28th, 2009
@ 1:43 pm:
laytonian, lighten up. At np point did I say I was without automobile insurance. Apparently sarcasm is a concept unfamilar to you.
George Ruwwe
on Sep 29th, 2009
@ 10:17 am:
This is evil …let us talk no more of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. I think this is the biggest story yet to come ot of the whole debate. Hoe can any poiitician support this bak home ?
George Ruwwe
on Sep 29th, 2009
@ 10:20 am:
I am retired and live outside the USA….I do not even use nor have Medicare …..it is criminal to fine me or put me in jail because of this atrocity by Obama and the other criminal politicians.
Pam
on Sep 29th, 2009
@ 1:59 pm:
What if a person has NO income & they rely entirely on their husbands income? My husband only gets a tiny s.s.i check every month…he gets a medical card from public aid…I don’t.He’s 72 yrs. old. I’m not old enough for medicare yet. I was getting a medical card & my son was on it with me from public aid then when he turned 19 they cut me & my son BOTH off of it!! I can’t get a medical card anywhere at all. I have no job or anything at all. I did apply for a temporary card from General assistance but haven’t heard back yet about it. This is totally crazy & insane what the president is trying to do to us all!!! I know I didn’t vote for him. He is NOT a good president at all!!! GOD WILL DEAL WITH HIM IN TIME.