Politics The Elephant in the room...The GOP today

I think they are more like the hijackers... Putting on a pointless show that will accomplish nothing but hurt and kill lots of people to try and get their way.

 

Is there a mandate or not? What are the consequences if a person refuses to get healthcare and pay a fine?

 

Yes. There is a mandate. An idea taken right from the Republican proposal in the 90s as an alternative to HillaryCare.

But only conspiracy nuts would suggest that one would be jailed for not paying a $95 fine. BTW, many of the Insurance Exchanges will offer an optional bare bones "catastrophic plan" that would cost the same as the fine. It would have a huge deductible but would protect the consumer in the event of a significant health catastrophe.

 

It was wrong then and wrong now. And I still believe the mandate is unconstitutional. Healthcare is not auto insurance, where people do not have a right to the road.

Year one - $95 fine...penalties and interest.
Year two - $XXX.xx fine ...penalties and interest.
Year three - .....

Or, are you saying there are no consequences? You confuse me.

Perhaps you can start a Q/A thread, because I doubt, even people here understand what their options are under Obamacare. I can pay a $95 annual fine or pay for a plan that is $100 per month - or is there a $95/year cat. plan? I have not seen anything on that plan.

 

Again, there are numerous exemptions from the fine.

And more on the catastrophic plan --
People 30 and over with low incomes for whom other insurance is not considered affordable or who have received a hardship exemption from the fee may be able to buy these catastrophic plans in the Marketplace.

It is optional for the State Insurance Exchanges and will vary by state (and be driven by competition among private insurance providers, much like the four other level plans), but will have signficantly lower premiums than the lowest price Bronze Plans or in other words, premiums at or marginally above the annual fine.

 

People are already paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to the IRS for other taxes, and I kind of doubt that they would break out this fine and not pay it, and only it. But, then again, the right likes to be spiteful and do things not in their best interest...

 

There are people who do not file taxes, and people who are not required to file taxes - at least prior to Obamacare.

Interesting how liberals have a fit over an ID for voting but have no problem forcing people to file tax forms, yes it takes effort. Many people have to pay for help and to file, some don't have easy access to forms, some don't have permanent addresses, some don't have bank accounts. Does anyone care about these people, who may not vote? Or, because they don't get polled some pretend they don't exist. I bet someone will say - "show me the data!" I will give my response now - go to any large urban center park and hangout for a few hours and talk to people who don't seem to leave!

 

Ace....no one is going to jail for not paying the fine.

The law specifically states that those who do not pay the penalty "shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution." The likely outcome is the IRS will take the fine out of any future refunds.

And there are still no death panels, Ace!

 

Why pay the fine? Why spend $1200/year? Why not do what many do now and simply go to the emergency room when needed or sign up when needed since there are no -preexsisting condition clauses? fundamental principles of insurance are being violated, I repeat Obamacare is a mess.

Penalties and interest as well? why did you use the word "likely" - is there uncertainty - will it be one set of rules fro one group and another set of rules for another?

At some point more and more pressure will be on providing more and more coverage/services. Who decides when and when not these services will be part of the minimum requirements? Specifically look at the issue of mammagrams - I personally know a woman whose life was saved due to a mammogram in her 40's, what is the recommendation by HHS, what will be covered under Obamacare? Why not leave this as an issue for the individual and her doctor.

 

Ace....I cant discuss the issues with you rationally if you cant let go of the bullshit and baseless allegations of criminal sanctions and death panels.

 

Because you have people like my libertarian friend who got a brain infection in his early 30s and racked up $40,000 in medical bills. He couldn't sign up for health insurance through the exchanges when he was in the ambulance going to the hospital.

And the GOP/Tea Party types have been complaining about people getting free rides by going to the ER and not paying, well this does something about it.

 

Sorry Ace, I was diagnosed with esophogial cancer in 1994. The insurance company (Blue Cross) decided that the 5 year survival rate for my type of cancer wasn't good enough and declined my coverage. Fortunately. my employer was self insured and I knew somebody who knew somebody ... and they forced coverage. I'm still here. Death panels have existed for a while, I'm not comfortable with them being for profit entities..

 

I think I've told Ace three times now that you cant just wait until you need medical services to sign up for insurance on the Exchanges.. There is a limited enrollment period each year. This year it is Oct 1- 2013 through March 31, 2014. In future years, it is Oct-Dec of each year. If you are faced with a serious medical condition or have a serious accident in April or July, you're shit out of luck and either face huge bills or stick it to the hospital and the rest of us pay for your negligence or disease.

And the fundamental principle of insurance is to minimize risk exposure. For insurance companies to take on more risk with the requirement to cover pre-existing conditions and eliminate lifetime limits, the necessary offset is a universe of young, healthy consumers.
--- merged: Sep 30, 2013 at 10:09 PM ---

Thousands of people faced similar circumstances every year where coverage was denied or "rescinded" for an individual with a policy.

One other feature of the ACA is to end the practice of coverage recisions..an individual or group (employer) health plan or health insurance issuer can no longer rescind coverage on an individual once the individual is covered under a plan or policy unless the individual has acted fraudulently.

 

The polio my dad had in the 1920's nearly bankrupt the family in 2005.

 

From conservative columnist Byron York:

The Republicans are now under the control of Michelle Bachmann and a small group of allies in the House and Ted Cruz and his handful of allies in the Senate.

God help us all.

 

The ACA may be unpopular with half the voters, but what is apparently far more unpopular is the Republican plan to link govt funding to delaying or defunding the ACA

A National Journal poll; other polls (CNN, CNBC, CBS, Kaiser, Quinnipiac) have similar numbers



And Republican numbers are sinking to an all time low...15-20% approval.

Which might explain the latest plan by Boehner....to vote to reopen federal agencies on a piecemeal approach, a few each day starting with the most popular or politically expedient, the National Park Service and the Dept of Veteran Affairs, later today.

I suspect EPA will be at the end of the line.

 

The sad thing about this, is that this is exactly what the Tea Party & crazy libertarians want. They wanted the government to shut down, but keep all of their projects up and running. If they keep the government shut down until April 15th, they will probably demand that the extra taxes paid will go back to the companies too.

And where are the Democrats in all of this? Name names about who is causing this and what their agenda is. Have Micheal Moore make a movie about the takeover of power by the wealthy who hate anybody who isn't like them.

Here are a few of them: