Supreme Court strips Romney of favorite argument
So how does Mitt Romney, the architect of RomneyCare, attack ObamaCare from this point forward?
Until now, Romney has claimed that the individual mandate is fine as policy when implemented at the state level. In fact, he has said repeatedly that he believes he did the right thing as governor of Massachusetts.
In a GOP debate in January, for example, Romney defended his plan on its merits, arguing that “everyone has a requirement to either buy it or pay the state for the cost of providing them free care. Because the idea of people getting something for free when they could afford to care for themselves is something that we decided in our state was not a good idea.”
However, while Romney argued that such an approach was right for Massachusetts, he also argued that it would be unconstitutional to implement it at the federal level. That was his get-out-of-jail card; that was the core of the distinction that he attempted to draw between RomneyCare and ObamaCare:
What was good policy at the state level was unconstitutional at the federal level.
Except that as we now know, it’s not. Romney’s argument has been rendered null and void by today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the mandate and the tax penalty used to enforce it.
Romney could, I suppose, try to seize upon the court’s description of the penalty as a tax to try to explain how his plan was different. U.S. Sen. Lindsay Thomas, in an appearance on Fox News this afternoon, was already pitching that line, claiming that “the issue is no longer about health care; it’s about taxes.”
Unfortunately for that line of argument, the tax penalty levied under RomneyCare on those who refuse to buy health insurance differs from that under ObamaCare only by degree, and not in a way friendly to Romney. You see, the maximum tax penalty in RomneyCare, at $1,212, is considerably higher than the maximum of $695 under ObamaCare.
Of course, none of this means that Romney won’t keep attacking the federal plan so clearly modeled after his own strategy. It just means that he won’t be able to do so credibly or logically.
– Jay Bookman
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1,024 comments Add your comment
Adam
June 28th, 2012
4:07 pm
By the way, day close, DJIA down only just shy of 25 points. Not 70, not 140. 0.2% change. I guess that health crae thing REALLY DESTROYED EVERYTHING didn’t it?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:07 pm
I want a tax on bloomberg trolls.
Rickster
June 28th, 2012
4:08 pm
The Obama administration argued the mandate wasn’t a tax. The Supreme Court ruled against the mandate using the Commerce Clause as its justification.
The Obama administration argued the mandate was a tax. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of it on that basis.
I don’t know how you can say the same thing is both constitutional and unconstitutional. If it’s not constitutional under both arguments… the thing should have been thrown out.
Brosephus™
June 28th, 2012
4:08 pm
You can thank Georgia’s right to work laws for that.
And we both know which ideology champions right to work laws…
Liberal Pariah
June 28th, 2012
4:09 pm
Since when do Liberals support taxing moochers??????
Adam
June 28th, 2012
4:10 pm
The Obama administration argued the mandate wasn’t a tax
It still isn’t. You misunderstand. The MANDATE isn’t a tax because the MANDATE is to buy insurance or to have a penalty applied. That penalty is one that you actually have no legal obligation to pay. So, in essence, still no new taxes, any way you slice it.
Adam
June 28th, 2012
4:11 pm
In other words it’s not a MANDATE that you be penalized, it’s a MANDATE that you buy insurance or have it provided. The penalty for NOT doing that is the tax, not the mandate itself.
Welcome to the Occupation
June 28th, 2012
4:11 pm
Filter 3:57. Right on.
Adam
June 28th, 2012
4:11 pm
I’m out, see you all later.
ty webb
June 28th, 2012
4:11 pm
I’m thankful there’s not a tax on handsomeness.
martin the calvinist
June 28th, 2012
4:12 pm
Jay, what does a family of 6 do if the total income of that said family is less than 30 thousand, the person can’t afford health coverage or the fine?
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2012
4:12 pm
Republican! You can’t help but feel for them after hearing about their gloom. And despair. And…
godless heathen
June 28th, 2012
4:13 pm
“Not exactly. The penalty paid by those who choose not to het insurance is udsed to offset the cost of treatment should one need it. Unlike now where it’s a 100% free ride for anyone who walks in the door.”
So the hospitals will just bill the Fed Government for all the services they are forced by law to provide to the uninsured? And the “taxes” collected will cover that??
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:13 pm
“Penélope Cruz is hawt.”
– Thomas Jefferson
St Simons - he-ne-ha
June 28th, 2012
4:14 pm
whoa, i was knocked into the ocean by this human wave of doctors
piling up at the docks trying to get out of the country, i guess going to
practice their love on women in a freedum luvin kuntry.
Fred ™
June 28th, 2012
4:16 pm
Kammie? Really? You are wasting time on this rather than watching Germany and Italy? 0-2……….
jconservative
June 28th, 2012
4:17 pm
“Easy. He attacks it by calling out Obama for his 2009 comments saying it’s not a tax.”
Not so sure. Romney has been saying for 4 years that he did not raise taxes when he was Governor. And his mandate has a penalty, or tax, if you prefer.
Paulo977
June 28th, 2012
4:17 pm
Midori
June 28th, 2012
3:37 pm
____________________
Says it all doesn’t it?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:17 pm
Geez Fred, I forgot.
Thanx
godless heathen
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
“Since when do Liberals support taxing moochers??????”
They fixed that by setting it up so there is no penalty for not paying the tax. For the productive class, it is withheld from their paycheck.
Fred ™
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
15 minutes left. Hurry. if all else fails………..
http://www.espn3.com
Williebkind
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
I hope justice roberts catches the drawin disease, it draws his nose to his anus, then he catches the drizzles, and then he lives for a thousand years. What a liberal in conservative clothing!!!
John Birch
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
Jay – They couldn’t have been moochers because even illegal aliens are entitled to free health care. Libs liked to extoll the virtues of this bill by claiming it was universal health care. As I pointed out a long time ago we already have universal health care, this is just universal health insurance. They are not moochers, they are invicibles, young and healthy that don’t need health insurance. BTW, people who don’t have insurance don’t get free health care, they get a bill they are expected to pay. This law is just another redistribution plan all you entitlement socialists love, tax the rich to feed the real moochers and now make the healthy pay to provide health care for the sick.
joe
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
If you think small businesses (which drive our economy) are not presently hiring enough, well, with the S Court’s ruling today, what hiring was there will stop dead in its tracks. I feel bad for the unemployed…your outlook for employment took a huge hit today.
John Birch
June 28th, 2012
4:20 pm
Joe – After the Arizona law ruling earlier this week employers are only hiring illegal aliens anyway!
josef
June 28th, 2012
4:21 pm
Looks like the Health Care/Insurance boys and girls don’t seem to see Apocalypse now…their boy Obama won through….
UnitedHealth Grou…59.51 +0.22 0.37%
CIGNA Corporation44.20 -1.20 -2.64%
Humana Inc.79.47 -0.07 -0.09%
Universal America…10.48 +0.37 3.66%
Health Net, Inc. 24.57 -0.60 -2.38%
Molina Healthcare…23.07 +1.75 8.21%
Aetna Inc.39.83 -1.12 -2.75%
Coventry Health C… 32.46 -0.77 -2.32%
StanCorp Financia…36.00 +0.42 1.18%
National Health P…0.0030 +0.0001 3.45%
curious
June 28th, 2012
4:21 pm
I like a “tax” like this one. Only a few will be paying.
It’s a fee, anyway. It’s the price of the ticket to opt out.
RB from Gwinnett
June 28th, 2012
4:21 pm
You’d have to be a complete moron to think the majority of the uninsured will ever be asked to pay for their own health insurance. This whole thing never has been and never will be about them having healthcare. It’s about who’s going to pay for it. And it’s going to be paid for by the same 53% who are paying for everything else.
Sean Hanitty
June 28th, 2012
4:21 pm
joe @ 4:18
I know of no business that hires to just be hiring. They do so based on current and projected demand
If there is demand some company will provide the supply if another will not do so.
Supply & Demand: study up on it
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:23 pm
…employers are only hiring illegal aliens anyway!
Been that way in my biz for the past thirty or so years.
Someone else late to the party.
Joseph
June 28th, 2012
4:23 pm
Easy Jay.. Its the largest TAX increase in American history thrust upon the folks in bad economic times…
Butch Cassidy
June 28th, 2012
4:23 pm
joe – “If you think small businesses (which drive our economy) are not presently hiring enough, well, with the S Court’s ruling today, what hiring was there will stop dead in its tracks.”
Yeah, I can hear it now. “Hey Joe, we have all these orders to fill, sure wish we could hire the people we need to get the job done.Yeah, Too bad Sam, because of Obamacare we’ll just have to let that profit go to the competition becuase we don’t offer insurance and we sure as hell won’t hire anyone so we can avoid the penalty no matter how much money we let walk out the door. “
kitty
June 28th, 2012
4:23 pm
On the other blog I said that once all settles out I can go to work in my husband’s business and help it grow and create American jobs once this two time cancer survivor can get insurance outside of working for someone else just like Filter said above regarding his “pre-existing condition”. How can that be bad? It sure is bad when someone like Filter and I have to give up our dreams and just work for someone so we can have health insurance. He and I are hardly moochers. I have been working for decades how and never took a government dime.
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 28th, 2012
4:23 pm
A tax on liberal bloggers would be a swell idea
They’re probably even in favor of it
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:24 pm
Sleeping giant?
They need a new talking head guy.
“I did it because it was the right thing to do for the American people” President Obama
Much better.
Butch Cassidy
June 28th, 2012
4:24 pm
RB from Gwinnett – “it’s going to be paid for by the same 53% who are paying for everything else.”
Damn, 53% of the population is uninsured?No wonder they needed to pass Obamacare.
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 28th, 2012
4:25 pm
A tax on people who don’t own guns
Now we’re talking
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:25 pm
‘thrust upon the folks in bad economic times…’
Is it 2014 already?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:25 pm
TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX
TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX
TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX
ty webb
June 28th, 2012
4:26 pm
on the bright side…the commerce clause has finally been narrowed.
Joseph
June 28th, 2012
4:26 pm
One of the first ads to run will be Oblama lying to the American people about this monstrosity not being a TAX…
Jm-pass TSPLOST silly people
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
We should tax people who don’t work, specifically with a separate tax
While we’re at it, trying to discourage behavior, we should tax people who don’t exercise twice daily for 45 minutes
Butch Cassidy
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
Joseph, what is this obsession you have with “thrusting”, “cramming” and “foaming”?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX
TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX
godless heathen
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
“You’d have to be a complete moron to think the majority of the uninsured will ever be asked to pay for their own health insurance. This whole thing never has been and never will be about them having healthcare. It’s about who’s going to pay for it. And it’s going to be paid for by the same 53% who are paying for everything else.”
You nailed it RB.
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
I think Romney would do better by working to make the law better rather than the ‘repeal’ mantra…
IMO, the ‘repeal’ spin is red meat for the people who would vote against Obama regardless.
Joseph
June 28th, 2012
4:27 pm
Lord Help Us:
Do you have any sort of vision for the future or is live for today? Business’s realize whats coming down the pipe and won’t hire…
RB from Gwinnett
June 28th, 2012
4:28 pm
Butch, if you can’t read, stay out of the discussion.
Sean Hanitty
June 28th, 2012
4:28 pm
Jm
All that nonsense isn’t going to change anything. When there is a bill in Congress to tax anything close to what you are saying, holla
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:29 pm
‘Do you have any sort of vision for the future or is live for today? Business’s realize whats coming down the pipe and won’t hire…’
No, but I have a calendar that says it’s 2012 and this aspect of the ACA does not even come in to the picture until 2014.
Butch Cassidy
June 28th, 2012
4:29 pm
RB from Gwinnett – “Butch, if you can’t read, stay out of the discussion.”
I will if you will.
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:30 pm
The private sector needs demand for their product.
This bill does that.
A proposal like Germany’s green energy policy will do that too.
Jobs people, focus.
retired early
June 28th, 2012
4:31 pm
Will someone please do a documentary of how the citizens of massachusetts like their mandatory healthcare. From what i’ve heard, it is very popular…learn from their experience.
That is at least one thing Romney got right…and he can’t even take credit for it because he would piss off his own party.
TM
June 28th, 2012
4:32 pm
What I think people do not see is this is a victory that uphold the limitation of Congress. The majority holds that this would not fly under the Commerce Clause and can only fly under the Feds ability to tax. If it had gone the other way the power of Congress to use the Commerce Clause to invade our daily lives would have been unlimited. For this J, Roberts is a genius.
JamVet
June 28th, 2012
4:33 pm
Do you have any sort of vision for the future…
This, from a dead red adherent of the political party that absolutely defines the trait of NO vision?
John Muir – a hated tree hugger to today’s right wingers- wrote about having the vision to protect our national parks and resources for the next seven generations.
Neocons are not interested in anything beyond the next quarter’s earnings statements.
And watching them spit and spew over today’s ruling has been enormously entertaining…
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:34 pm
The gop voted no on the other operation hearing under w.
Politics.
The dems are walking out of the house and will speak to the media.
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2012
4:34 pm
I just hope the Republicans can at least make it through the day before they completely collapse from the burden of health care. It’s gotta be rough being a Republican.
ty webb
June 28th, 2012
4:34 pm
TM,
George Will makes that point in today’s column. You should check it out.
JamVet
June 28th, 2012
4:35 pm
And it’s going to be paid for by the same 53% who are paying for everything else.
There is a REAL simple solution that would go a LONG way to remedying that, but you corporatist nutjobs won’t even hear of it…
martin the calvinist
June 28th, 2012
4:36 pm
If I understand the bill correctly, i don’t have to pay for my healthcare anymore……someone else will due to what I earn income wise, please tell me where I’m wrong……….
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:36 pm
fast and furious is officially over.
Aquagirl
June 28th, 2012
4:36 pm
It sure is bad when someone like Filter and I have to give up our dreams and just work for someone so we can have health insurance.
This sails right over the heads of the supposedly free-market-lovin’ Republicans. Our economy is hamstrung when people aren’t where they’re most productive. If Bill Gates had been a type 1 diabetic from a blue collar background he might have spent years in a crap job just to obtain health insurance.
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:38 pm
Just saw this on the google…
‘ObamaCare is not RobertsCare’
Mitt will need to change his mantra.
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:38 pm
Make that ‘
‘ObamaCare is noW RobertsCare’
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2012
4:38 pm
“And we both know which ideology champions right to work laws…”
Yup!
Brosephus™
June 28th, 2012
4:39 pm
For this J, Roberts is a genius.
You may want to explain that fact to some of your more reactionary compadres then…..
For example:
Williebkind
June 28th, 2012
4:18 pm
I hope justice roberts catches the drawin disease, it draws his nose to his anus, then he catches the drizzles, and then he lives for a thousand years. What a liberal in conservative clothing!!!
That doesn’t paint a very good picture of conservatives as a whole. It also doesn’t help support the notion that “libs act with emotion. cons act with logic” that we here around here from time to time.
Sean Hanitty
June 28th, 2012
4:39 pm
When this case came up before the numerous Fed district courts, did more or less rule in favor / partial favor or not?
How did Robert’s mentor on the DC circuit rule?
Normal, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
June 28th, 2012
4:39 pm
an e-mail from People for the American Way
pfaw @ scotus
Dear (Normal),
In an important win for the American people, the Supreme Court today upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The Court affirmed that Congress acted appropriately by using its power to address the very real crisis in our health care system.
As we celebrate the victory, however, we must take note that it was a close 5-4 split decision by the Court. What’s shocking about this decision is that it wasn’t unanimous.
By any reasonable standard, the constitutionality of Obamacare is not a close question. But even in his deciding opinion upholding health care reform, Chief Justice Roberts attacked the scope of Congress’s authority to address our nation’s problems under the Commerce Clause — a nod to an extreme right-wing judicial philosophy that would roll back the achievements of the Civil Rights Era, social programs dating back to the New Deal and protections for workers and consumers going back over 100 years.
Ultra-conservative ideologues have been remarkably successful in pushing the Court far, far to the right to advance their political ideology. And today’s close call will make the Supreme Court a major issue for progressives, moderates and independents in the upcoming election.
Every American needs to understand, in no uncertain terms: when you vote for President, you are voting for the next Supreme Court.
With Robert Bork advising Mitt Romney on judicial nominations, it’s clear that Romney is intent on stacking the Court with more of the kind of Justices who would scrap the protections contained in the President’s health care law and other important protections for countless Americans and their fundamental rights.
People For will be making sure that voters remember this decision, and many others of the Roberts Court, when they go to the polls in November.
You can help by visiting RomneyCourt.com to find out more about what a Mitt Romney presidency would mean for the future of the Supreme Court.
And please share the link, the video and materials found on RomneyCourt.com to help spread the word.
Thank you for all your incredible support, and for standing with People For the American Way to fight for a fair and just federal judiciary that respects our core constitutional values and works to protect all Americans.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Keegan signature
Michael Keegan, President
St Simons - he-ne-ha
June 28th, 2012
4:39 pm
it is obvious now that Michelle Bachmann (R-Nuts) should be
Mittens VP
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2012
4:41 pm
“If I understand the bill correctly, i don’t have to pay for my healthcare anymore……someone else will due to what I earn income wise, please tell me where I’m wrong”
You need to learn the difference between “healthcare” and “healthcare insurance”
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:41 pm
Funny:
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/666097/thumbs/o-SUPREME-COURT-HEALTH-CARE-570.jpg?4
Brosephus™
June 28th, 2012
4:41 pm
getalife
I’m shocked that 2 Republicans voted no and 17 Democrats voted yes on that one. I’m interested in who those individuals are and what districts they represent. They’ve gotta be swing districts where competition is waiting for them to slip up.
kitty
June 28th, 2012
4:42 pm
It sure is bad when someone like Filter and I have to give up our dreams and just work for someone so we can have health insurance.
This sails right over the heads of the supposedly free-market-lovin’ Republicans. Our economy is hamstrung when people aren’t where they’re most productive. If Bill Gates had been a type 1 diabetic from a blue collar background he might have spent years in a crap job just to obtain health insurance.
===================
Aquagirl…did you notice YOU are the only one who even commented on that little factoid…telling that….many want to ignore that not having universal healthcare actually hamstrings the US economy.
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2012
4:42 pm
“A tax by any other name is not a Tax.” – Antonin Scalia
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:42 pm
willard/bachmann.
Scary ticket.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2012
4:43 pm
“Scary ticket”
No kidding! A lot of people just might die laughing
Normal, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
June 28th, 2012
4:43 pm
http://romneycourt.com/
TM
June 28th, 2012
4:43 pm
As for Jay’s comments that it is a tax only on the freeloaders that don’t buy insurance, may be he should think about the college grads that not on mommy’s or daddy’s policy and trying to pay back loans and must chose between paying loans, paying for apartment or buying insurance.I wouldn’t call that person a freeloader if they decided to forgo insurance at that time in their life
kitty
June 28th, 2012
4:44 pm
Normal…SCOTUS justices was the main reason I voted for Obama. Last thing we need is another loony Scalia and his lapdog Thomas…and don’t get me started on Alito.
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:45 pm
‘the college grads that not on mommy’s or daddy’s policy and trying to pay back loans and must chose between paying loans, paying for apartment or buying insurance’
Words escape me…
kitty
June 28th, 2012
4:45 pm
.I wouldn’t call that person a freeloader if they decided to forgo insurance at that time in their life
================================
Until they have an accident or something that you and I have to pay for….well, no more. Universal healthcare would remedy that, too, by the way.
barking frog
June 28th, 2012
4:46 pm
And so..26 million people
are uninsured because
they are moochers..this
will show them..
getalife
June 28th, 2012
4:46 pm
Bro,
There are con dems and the NRA is powerful.
dems don’t march lock step but would like to hear from the republicans that voted no.
TaxPayer
June 28th, 2012
4:46 pm
How many Republicans have turned to drinking today. There must be millions of Republicans out there in need of relief from the agony they are feeling right now. Feel for your fellow Republicans. Point them toward the liquor store nearest their current location but remind them to never ever drink and drive. They should take Marta.
martin the calvinist
June 28th, 2012
4:47 pm
You’re deflecting doggone/GA, I believe the bill either expands medicaid or give income based subsidies to pay for the insurance, so if i stay at my current income level, (don’t want to) my health insurance is paid for.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:48 pm
SCOTUS justices was the main reason I voted for Obama.
If there was even a remote chance that a conservative SCJ was retiring in the next 4 years, we would see a much more viable candidate than the one that lost to the one that lost to Obama in 08
St Simons - he-ne-ha
June 28th, 2012
4:48 pm
that’s what i’m sayin, keep this wingnut comedy gold going til Nov.
josef
June 28th, 2012
4:49 pm
Kitty…
I was just getting ready to respond.
If these wack-os had the vaguest notion of what a Type 1 diabetic has to forfeit out a month JUST TO STAY ALIVE, forget the associated health maintenance. etc. etc. The pharmaceutical companies have got a cash cow there and milk it for all it’s worth… that is, to me, enough to damn them right there…
TM
June 28th, 2012
4:50 pm
For this J, Roberts is a genius.
You may want to explain that fact to some of your more reactionary compadres then…..
Some times it takes awhile for reality to appear to a few. I believe Jay was calling this the most partisan court in the history of our country until the last few days after Arizona and this decision.
Matti
June 28th, 2012
4:50 pm
From this morning’s news: South Fulton Medical Center will close its women’s program — including labor and delivery rooms, the mother/baby unit and the neonatal ICU — and eliminate 80 positions, the hospital’s owner announced this week.
getalife is correct: Let’s focus on JOBS. The health care sector creates good jobs providing services that people need. The more access to healthcare services people have, the more employed health care workers we have in our communities. Employed health care workers pay their rent, mortgage, car notes, buy tires, clothes, shoes, food, and movie tickets, and other goods and services that keep the economy going.
The ACA isn’t perfect, but it’s something. In tough times, something is a good thing.
godless heathen
June 28th, 2012
4:50 pm
What is your proposal for universal healthcare, kitty?
ty webb
June 28th, 2012
4:51 pm
“That doesn’t paint a very good picture of conservatives as a whole. It also doesn’t help support the notion that “libs act with emotion. cons act with logic” that we here around here from time to time.”
there’s brosephus and that broad brush of his again.
Lord Help Us
June 28th, 2012
4:52 pm
‘Some times it takes awhile for reality to appear to a few.’
Coming from the poster that just anguished about college kids, and thus showing complete ignorance of the ACA, this is quite a gem…
Today has been entertaining.
Doggone/GA
June 28th, 2012
4:53 pm
“so if i stay at my current income level, (don’t want to) my health insurance is paid for”
Then consider yourself one of the lucky ones. At least you’ll HAVE health insurance. But having health insurance is not the same thing as having FREE HEALTHCARE, which is what you originally said. For instance, I have health insurance now via my employer, which is a major corporation, and my healthCARE costs me $60 a month for medication. $60 a month is not FREE healthcare.
Normal, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
June 28th, 2012
4:54 pm
Kitty,
Me too…
Filter
June 28th, 2012
4:56 pm
josef,
People not only have no idea but I doubt they care. Until something like this knocks on their door…..and then suddenly they get it.
Dekalb comments
June 28th, 2012
4:56 pm
John Birch @ 4:18
As you correctly point out, the uninsured do not receive free health care. They receive the minimum care required to stablizie them and are presented with a bill. They don’t receive health care. They are given care for an acute injury or illness. If they have cancer they are stabilized and sent home. They do not get to come back and go to chemo-therapy. There is no requirement for any health care provider to provide that.
But I am paying a tax today every time they receive this care for which they cannot or will not pay. A friend of mine in Dallas is a hospital administrator. He said they add between 12-15% to the price of every service they provide to paying customers like me. So I am paying a 12-15% tax through higher premiums, higher co-pays, etc. for that service.
So I am personally glad individuals will have the option of either purchasing health insurance through an exchange or out on the open market or paying a fee, a tax for refusing to participate. It won’t result in a reduction in my 12-15% surtax until enough people enter the insurance market and begin to pay for those services. But there is a clear disincentive for them to remain outside of the market.
If you have been freeloading on the system then I am glad you are getting a tax increase. If you have not been freeloading on the system then you should be glad the freeloaders now have a strong incentive to paritipcate in our health care system.
Don Abernethy
June 28th, 2012
4:56 pm
Very sad day for America.
godless heathen
June 28th, 2012
4:57 pm
“Today has been entertaining.”
Yes it has. All the libbies dancing in the streets because all our worries are over. Everybody gonna have insurance. LOL!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 28th, 2012
4:57 pm
Cue the “House holds Holder in contempt” deflection comments in 3…2…1….