The Democrats rammed through their monstrous healthcare reform bill "Obamacare" to takeover 20% of the American economy and control the life and death of the American people. What they have done is now made the lack of health insurance a crime. In the healthcare reform bill there is a provision that can actually send a person to jail. If a person doesn’t purchase a “government approved health insurance policy” or lapses in their coverage they will be fined. If the person continues to go without health insurance the fines can go up to $250,000 and the person can be sent to jail for up to 5 years.
I actually agree with Democrats on requiring people to buy health insurance. States require people to have car insurance, if they wish to dive and own a car. The point of the insurance is to protect other people when a person gets into an accident. The same point for requiring people to have health insurance is to protect the people when a person gets sick or injured and can’t afford to pay. When someone can’t pay their medical bills they still get treatment, but everyone else ends up paying for that person with higher medical bills and even higher insurance premiums. By spreading the costs, it will keep prices lower for everyone.
What I don’t agree with is the “government approved health insurance” and the concept of jail for non-compliance. No one should ever be sent to jail for not buying a product or service. And while fines are okay, they should not be excessive. The 8th Amendment protects the people from excessive bails/fines and cruel and unusual punishment. Jail time for not buying health insurance is cruel and unusual. The maximum fine should be equal to the average cost of the minimum private health insurance policy. The government has the power to garnish wages, take money out of your bank account, and place a lien on your home. Jail time is not needed. Also if the fine equals the cost of an insurance policy, this will encourage people to go ahead and buy insurance to at least get the benefit from the money they have to pay.
The other problem I have is with “government approved health insurance.” It has been estimated that a private “government approved health insurance” policy will cost up to $15,000 per year, because of the requirement in the healthcare reform bill. A government approved health insurance policy should be like state car insurance limits. While it will not cover everything, it will reduce the burden in a major event. The government should also expand the medical savings accounts to achieve its goals.
Requiring everyone to buy health insurance will bring younger and healthier people into the market lowering prices. Allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines will generate more competition and that will lower prices. Tort reform will lower medical costs. Letting people deduct their premiums off their taxes like businesses do will make insurance more affordable. Letting groups of small businesses, churches, and clubs pool together to buy group health insurance will lower premiums. For those that still can’t afford insurance or not eligible for insurance give them Medicare or Medicaid vouches that they can use to buy health insurance. There are many things we can do in the free market to lower prices. We don’t need government health insurance. We don’t need jail time and excessive fines for those that don’t buy insurance.
If the government has the power to throw us in jail for not buying their approved health insurance, what else might they throw us in jail for? Will they throw us in jail, if we don’t buy an “environmentally friendly” car? What if we don’t buy their approved newspapers? What about bringing back debtors prisons if you file bankruptcy? We should not allow the government to have this kind of power over our lives. Are we going to give away our freedom for a little comfort?
