Fines for no health coverage proposed
Published: July 4, 2009
WASHINGTON - In a revamped health-care system envisioned by senators, people would be required to carry health insurance just like motorists must get auto coverage now.
The government would provide subsidies for the poor and many middle-class families, but those who still refuse to sign up would face fines of more than $1,000.
The details were revealed Thursday in a health-care overhaul bill supported by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines would raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Families would pay higher penalties than individuals.
Called "shared responsibility payments," the fines would offset at least half the cost of basic medical coverage, according to the legislation. The goal is to nudge people to sign up for coverage when they are healthy instead of waiting until they are sick.
In 2008, employer-provided coverage averaged $12,680 a year for a family plan, and $4,704 for individual coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual survey.
With deepening divisions along partisan and ideological lines, the legislation faces an uncertain future.
Obama wants a bill this year that would provide coverage to the nearly 50 million Americans who lack it and reduce medical costs.
The Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions bill also calls for a government-run insurance option to compete with private plans as well as a $750-per-worker annual fee on larger companies that do not offer coverage to employees.
The Congressional Budget Office, in an analysis released Thursday evening, put the net cost of the proposal at $597 billion over 10 years. Coverage expansions worth $645 billion would be partly offset by savings of $48 billion, the estimate said.
However, the total cost of legislation will rise considerably once provisions are added to subsidize health insurance for the poor through Medicaid. Those additions, needed to ensure coverage for nearly all U.S. residents, are being handled by a separate panel, the Senate Finance Committee. Bipartisan talks on the Finance panel aim to hold the overall price to $1 trillion.
All the bills would require insurance companies to sell coverage to any applicant, without charging higher premiums for pre-existing medical conditions. The poor and some middle-class families would qualify for government subsidies to help with the cost of coverage. The government's costs would be covered by a combination of higher taxes and cuts in projected Medicare and Medicaid spending.
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dubiousthoughts your post is straight from the Obama socialist liberal playbook.
I’m surprised that given your negative views on our country that you can lower yourself to remain here sucking up the benefits of the collective efforts of citizens who have made it great.
Remember “A government big enough to give us everything we want is one big enough to take everything we have”.
Thomas Jefferson
JW,
Your are a wise man and obviously well-read or well-informed. Thanks for your honest comments.
I read these boards often, and it appears most of the people are opposed to GOVT intervention in anything. They prefer to continue in what I call, THE AMERICAN MYTH.
We are told from birth that “you can be anything you want”, and if you work hard you will live a rewarding life. But that is a fallacy. Many Americans will work modest paying jobs at the most, and believe that they are part of “The American Dream”. Additionally, they will accumulate a few American toys like a nice car, a home, or a big screen TV,(many at inflated credit terms) and two weeks vacation and that is enough to keep them satisfied. They have no concept of a better life, as they are conditioned to work like a dog and think that they are participating in an egalitarian economy.
And they berate people who are less fortunate, claiming they do not have “work ethic”, yet most of the most critical people are a few missed paychecks from disaster themselves.
I agree 100% that the stimulus money was needed to preserve jobs. It is a stop-gap measure to buy us time to figure out how to get Americans back to long-term work. Without it, things would undoubtedly be worse. Additionally, saving GM with bailout money was the right thing to do. Most people do not see the long tentacles a company like GM reaches to. In this area alone, there are many companies that are suppliers, repair shops, and subsidiaries of GM that if GM failed, the impact would hit much further than Detriot. But we are conditioned to blame Labor Unions when it is much deeper.
Tax cuts? That is another myth. Most companies that get tax breaks still move overseas. There is no evidence that tax cuts create jobs for the long term. In a global economy it is a race to produce at the lowest cost. If you can get 4 foreign workers for the price of 1 American, it is a no-brainer for most companies. Since there is no penalty for American companies moving overseas, and most corporations feel no social contract to this country, the American people ultimately lose. But many accept this as “being American”.
As far as the US involvement in Iraq? Anyone with a brain knows this as a war over resources, namely OIL. Most people fool themselves into believing America is a righteous nation fighting ro spread democracy. We just want a democratic-friendly country so a new market opens and big business can buy and sell good and services and make more money.
As long as Americans remain dumbed-down and brainwashed, nothing will change. Our standard of living will diminish, and we will still blame Obama and Big Government. However, at least “American Idol” is returning for another season.
ur Social Security
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Terms of Office March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945), a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program.. He Promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put Into the Program would be deductible from Their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would Only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month—and then finding that we are getting taxedon 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘Put Away’—you may be interested in the following:
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1958 is the first year that Congress, not President Eisenhower, voted to remove funds from Social Security and put it into the General Fund for Congress to spend.
It was a democratically controlled Congress.
The logic Congress used at that time was that there was so much money in Social Security Fund that it would never run out / be used up for the purpose it was intended / set aside for.
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Question: Which Political Party took Social Security from the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the General Fund so that Congress could spend it?
Answer: It was Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat,Term of Office: November 22,1963 to January 20, 1969) and the democratically Controlled House and Senate.
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Question: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax Deduction for Social Security
(FICA) withholding?
Answer: The Democratic Party
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Question: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
Answer: The Democratic Party, with Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (Al Gore) [Vice President Term of Office: January 10, 1993 to January 20, 2001] casting the ‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US ..
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Question: Which Political Party decided to start giving Annuitypayments to immigrants?
ANSWER: JAMES EARL CARTER, JR. (JIMMY CARTER) (DEMOCRAT, TERM OF OFFICE: JANUARY 20, 1977 TO JANUARY 20, 1981 AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
IMMIGRANTS MOVED INTO THIS COUNTRY, AND AT AGE 65, BEGAN TO RECEIVE SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GAVE THESE PAYMENTS TO THEM, EVEN THOUGH THEY NEVER PAID A DIME INTO IT!
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Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!
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Citizens should always remember…..
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have”.
Thomas Jefferson
VA Conservative is correct. President Ronald Reagan’s Trickle Down Economics distributed the rich’s money via the free market by granting tax breaks, giving the rich confidence to spend and hire, which elevated all those below the rich.
Obama’s Trickle Up Poverty is designed to do just what Va Conservative predicts; deliver the productive masses TO poverty.
And people who control Obama know this. “His” radical policies are not naive. They are designed precisely to bring down the greatest nation in the history of civilization.
Those who care about the United States of America should carpet bomb Senators Webb and Warner’s emails and phone banks daily demanding they start representing Virginians, and not the DNC radicals.
The 50 million who don’t have coverage include: 10-12 million illegals, 10-12 million 18-30 year olds who don’t want insurance, and another 10-15 million who are eligible for other federal assistance if they would simply sign up. Turns out that there’s not that many folks who need this mandatory program.
Free market is the way to go!!!
Socialism has never lifted anyone out of poverty, but rather, has brought the productive masses to poverty. Those who do not understand that concept are poor students of history.
Grand ideas to require everyone to be covered under health insurance even grander to think that those who don’t have coverage will pay a fine.
The IRS can’t even get everyone to pay taxes or pay the taxes they owe, so my confidence that this will be different is low.
Illegals are not going to pay for health insurance or pay the fine nor are those who make their living illegally.
Hospitals receiving federal or state funds will still be required to treat those with life threatening injuries or illnesses who don’t have health insurance or who haven’t paid the fine. Over half the time the taxpayer is stuck footing that bill because the hospital never does get payment from the patient.
So unless I’m missing something the only thing I see coming out of this is higher taxes and no real incentive for a lot of folks who don’t have coverage now to get any.
Everyday I wake up hoping that this is all a bad dream. Printing more money and “leveling the playing field” does not make this America, once a land of opportunity but just another Cuba, China, or worse, a 3rd world country. I worked too hard to give it away, I guess I better start working a second job to pay the fines coming to me because I will not be a part of the Obama Nation…
Anon, I am 42 with dependents that I take care of. I have been sick and in need of medical care. We do not have a perfect health care provider system. But we do have a society that allows us to work hard and improve our social and financial status. I have worked 2 jobs for the past 16 years. I drive a 9 year old Saturn. I save as much as I can and do without alot so that I can continue to be independent, self sufficient and better my position in life for me and my family.
I have never been fortunate enough to land a job with phenomenal benefits that pay insurance for the whole family. Instead I have to work longer, make a few extra sacrafices and pay for that myself.
But those jobs are out there and i have noone but myself to blame for not getting one of them. I wasnt the best student and made my share of mistakes early on but I am offsetting that now with hard work and sacrifice.
This country provides us ample opportunity to earn healthcare. Its just a question of priortizing it.
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