Jail Time for Not buying Health Insurance

[TC]

Get the Facts
Learn More About President Obama’s Health Care Plan

One of the most controversial amongst hot topics for voters, President Obama’s health care plan is one that will affect all American citizens. Here are the facts:

* Medical devices will be taxed an estimated $20 to $40 billion to pay for President Obama’s health care plan, raising the cost of wheelchairs, artificial heart valves, breast milk pumps for working mothers, hearing aids, pacemakers, replacement hips and knees, defibrillators, mechanized artificial limbs and other lifesaving medical devices. The tax is structured as an “annual fee” on medical device makers, according to their market share, raising the cost to patients.
* President Obama’s health care plan is estimated to cost over $1 trillion over the next decade. However, many believe this cost estimate is wildly optimistic and a similar program in Massachusetts that was estimated to cost $200 million now amounts to $700 million. Once the bill is passed the benefit will never be taken away. The costs will skyrocket, pushing up taxes and the deficit.
* According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the House Democrat version of the President’s plan cuts Medicare for the elderly by $535 billion. With these staggering cuts in Medicare funding, referred to as“reducing inefficiencies” by Washington politicians, the elderly will not be able to get treatments like hip replacements or bypass surgeries and the scarce medical resources will go to younger people with a longer remaining lifespan. Even The New York Times admitted that fears of rationing for elderly patients are “not irrational.” According to the New York Times, “Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient.” (NY Times, August 20, 2009)
* President Obama’s health care plan, passed by House Democrats, would require everyone to buy health insurance or pay a fine for failing to do so. According to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, punishment for failing to keep “acceptable health insurance coverage” would include a fine of up to 2.5 percent of your income, and refusal to pay the penalty “is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years.”

The House Democrat bill describes the penalties as follows:

* Section § 7203 — Misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
* Section § 7201 — Felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.”

[Rabbithoundjb]

NOT A SURPRISE. GOVERNMENT CONTROL = FREEDOM LOST.

[Tim H]

However, many believe this cost estimate is wildly optimistic and a similar program in Massachusetts that was estimated to cost $200 million now amounts to $700 million.

Sounds like the same group that "estimated" that unemployment would not go above 8% if the stimulus was passed.

For those who live in PMB world, this is a reference to the fact (which I know you are not aware of because facts don't exist in your world) that unemployment is actually over 10% which is higher than 8% by 2%.