Get health care or pay a "penalty"

[Bright Star]

Obamacare means that by 2014 everyone MUST get health insurance or pay a fine. There are many people now who don't have health insurance because they simply can't afford it. It costs too much. Trying to force them to get insurance isn't going to make them get it IF what the gov't will be offering through those health exchanges isn't cost effective. IF what they end up offering is more than what the penalty is, then many people will simply decide to pay the fine. There will be no incentive to get them to get insurance.

Many people will see that they'll be getting a refund & they'll figure to let the gov't take it.

Too many families now are living hand to mouth. Trying to force them to choose between providing for their families OR get health insurance seems like a burden that is going to put a lot of people in the poor house. MOST of those families will refuse to get insurance. They simply won't be able to adjust their budgets to make it work. & like I said, they'll let the gov't take their tax refunds.

That this is the best the gov't can come up with is unacceptable. They need to get their collective asses together & come up with something better. That the Supreme Court upheld it doesn't make it right.

[HYHYBT]

What "something better" do you propose, remembering that it must be paid for somehow?

[Bright Star]

What "something better" do you propose, remembering that it must be paid for somehow?

I propose to leave it the way it is. Obamacare is nothing more than a tax disguised as something good for the people. The people aren't stupid. They know a dead horse when they see one.

[s_stabeler]

first, we have a thread about this already in Politics. Second, are you serious that the current system, where if most people need hospital, they will be paying for it for several years is better? Yes, it is less than ideal ( no healthcare system can be absolutely perfect. The trick is to get as close as possible) but it's far better than the current system, where people can be hounded for debts they can't pay. Yes, it is slightly annoying to be paying for insurance that you might not actually need to claim on, but it's better than being unable to get treatment when you need it w/o having to worry about affordability.

[Dreamstalker]

Too many people declare bankruptcy due to medical bills, and rates are raised for the rest due to the ones that skip.

Many states have subsidized low/no income insurance plans that--while not perfect--cover the basics and generally aren't hard to qualify for. I see nothing wrong with paying a reasonable penalty for not having insurance; by being uninsured one is, in theory, making everyone else pay for their care.

[Andara Bledin]

As S_Stabeler said, this has already been beaten to death in the politics forum.

Also, do you even have any idea what the ACA entails or are you just paroting the FUD being thrown around by anti-Obama nuts?

Because your concern for the poor is completely unfounded; If you're living hand to mouth and are only making up to 133% of the national poverty level, you will be eligible for Medicaid under the expanded rules that are part of the ACA. At 133-250%, you get payment assistance, and up to 400% (which is more than I and half of the US make right now) gets some lesser financial benes as well.

Although, there will be states that hate their residents and despite supporting these measures when they were a Republican idea now hate them "because Obama" and will not enact the Medicaid expansion. That won't last long once their poorest realize that their neighbors the next state over are getting more than they are and businesses realize that people with health care coverage don't spend as much time out of work and move to other states.

Yes, since the penalty is capped at median cost of the lowest standard insurance offering, there will be many people who opt to pay the penalty. Most of those will be out of a misguided sense of "sticking it to the man" (who doesn't care, and this is more like cutting off your nose to spite your face, anyway) and their own sense of "it couldn't happen to me." The penalty is held to pay for their inevitible emergency room bills for when it does happen to them.

The current system is an abomination. We're one of the wealthiest nations in the world and we pay the most for our health care, and of first world nations, we get the worst care.

We're Americans. We should demand better than that. When did the idea of change being too scary to try and the petty and childish desire to stick it to the other side get in the way of us trying to be the best at everything?

^-.-^

[Peppergirl]

This is already in the politics forum. If you see a duplicate, please report it instead of responding to it. Thanks.

Thread closed.