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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Reader Reactions
There are many of us for whom this “concern” about the deficit is nothing new at all.
All the Johnny Come Latelys to politics and world affairs who arrived on the scene with Barack Obama and his travelling circus
were the ones who were not paying attention.
And now that we are hemmoraghing dollars in the trillions they are still not paying attention. Just complaining about the citizens that do.
I love all of the people all of sudden concerned about the national debt. Where were you when we were spending more then a trillion in Iraq? A place where there were no WMD’s and no link between Saddam and al-queda?
Furthur, the stimulus money has had an impact. How many MORE American’s would be jobless at the moment without it? If he hadn’t spent the money, everyone would be saying he didn’t do enough to combat the 15+ % unemployment rate, and the millions of more jobs being lost each month.
Republicans laud tax cut’s constantly. We had 8 years of corporate tax cuts and all it did was send job’s overseas.
Lastly, who knew an American president would ever send 4000+ Americans to there death’s so Exxon, Shell, and the other Oil companies can have a crack at Iraqi Oil Fields. The auctions are happening right now. It really was all about Oil.
The united states is going down. And neither Democrat nor Republican can save it. Each party is in the hand’s of their own corporate overloads. We let our manufacturing base get sent to China. It’s hard to have an economy, when you don’t make anything anymore.
When Obama said “Yes we can” and promised to redistribute the wealth to those with their hands out I knew the end was near.
The millions who voted for Obama reaffirmed it. We have seen the change and it’s not good. We probably will never recover from his socialization of our system because the dependent citizens will always vote with their hands in someones pocket thus guaranteeing the socialist democrats will remain in power.
The American Republic is lost. We will have:
Obama Motors
Obama Health care
Obama Drug Pharmacy
Obama Bank and Trust
Obama Investments
Obama Fossil Fuel Agency
Obama Light and Power
Obama Cradle to Grave Government Bureau
Yes Obama was “change we couldn’t believe in”.
A wise man once lamented of the “leakage of reality from American life.“
The “Through The Looking glass” atmosphere that has prevaded for the last 5 months has graduated from leakage to hemmorage status.
From Stimulus to Omnibus to government takeovers of the insurance and automobile industry to climate crisis and the health care crisis and soon to come the education reform crisis and trillions in debt piling up the American population until very recently have suspended their disbelief after being caught up in the mass hysteria of the ad man Axelrod’s illusiory mantra of “Yes we can.“
Yes we can what? Spend more money than any other administration-bar none. And to what end?
Are any of you better off than you were in January?
I know very well that that it has only been 5 months but we are now in debt that will last 500 years.
The best gift that any man can give to society as a whole is to take care of himself and his own.
Take credit for his accomplishments and reap the benefits for such.
Take responsibility for his mistakes and pay for such.
And guess what? There will always be bad breaks and bad health and bad deisions.
And beware of that fellow at the door that says “I am from the government and I am here to help you.“
There are always those who are willing to hand over their freedoms for a handout, but lets not do it on a national scale.
bjcs,
Let me guess. You are 26, single, and have never been sick a day in your life.
What an awful idea! If insurance companies are required to sell policies to all, with no regard to pre-existing conditions, the rates for everyone are going to go up considerably (except the very sick and at risk groups) And we ALL have to be a part of this or we get fined???
So lets add this to cap and trade, which raises everyones utility bill about $200.00 a year and loses America hundreds of thousands of more jobs as production jobs will be outsourced to all other countries who do not have cap and trade (Thats right, we will be the only country in the world that will self impose this fee on its production companies)and this fee will be much more significant on companies.
And don’t forget all the other taxes that must follow (regardless of whether a repub or dem is in office) because Obama has decided to double our national debt so he can spread wealth to failing people and companies, all in 5 short months, and the amazing part of all of this is that the economy hasnt been helped at all by all this spend. But hey, we saved a few hundred thousand union jobs at a couple of failing companies for a few more years. And we all know how hard those union folks are working up in Michigan.
Change has come!!!!! Hope everyone is happy!!!!!
Can I be fined if I drive my car without auto insurance?
So much for that whole “Land of the free” thingy.
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