http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/11/interview-with-the-president-jail-time-for-those-without-health-care-insurance.html
Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper
Interview with the President: Jail Time for Those without Health Care Insurance?
November 09, 2009 6:30 PM
From Sunlen Miller:
During an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Jake Tapper today, President Obama said that penalties are appropriate for people who try to “free ride” the health care system but stopped short of endorsing the threat of jail time for those who refuse to pay a fine for not having insurance.
“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it's affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there's a thousand dollar hidden tax that families all across America are -- are burdened by because of the fact that people don't have health insurance, you know, there's nothing wrong with a penalty.”
Under the House bill those who can afford to buy insurance and don’t’ pay a fine. If the refuse to pay that fine there’s a threat – as with a lot of tax fines – of jail time. The Senate removed that provision in the Senate Finance Committee.
Mr. Obama said penalties have to be high enough for people to not game the system, but it’s also important to not be “so punitive” that people who are having a hard time find themselves suddenly worse off, thus why hardship exemptions have been built in the legislation.
“I think the general broad principle is simply that people who are paying for their health insurance aren't subsidizing folks who simply choose not to until they get sick and then suddenly they expect free health insurance. That's -- that's basic concept of responsibility that I think most Americans abide by,” Mr. Obama said, “penalties are appropriate for people who try to free ride the system and force others to pay for their health insurance.”
The President said that he didn’t think the question over the appropriateness of possible jail time is the “biggest question” the House and Senate are facing right now.
Read more from Jake Tapper’s interview with President Obama HERE.
-Sunlen Miller
Ironic, ain't it? They're going to call in the deadly force of the federal leviathan to force people into their system, which will be resisted -- believe me on this -- at the point of a gun. The resulting hundreds of thousands of dead in the civil war this guy starts are supposed to be chalked up to "health care"?
Notice how he mealy-mouths around the answer. This guy can't even tell the plain truth when the language is in the bill and, him being a big hi-falutin' "constitutional" lawyer and all, he knows damn well that they are forcing all of us to play or pay -- and that at the end of that "pay," ultimately, points the muzzle of a federal gun. To call this guy a lying anal sphincter does a disservice to honest, hard-working anal sphincters everywhere.
Oh, well, they said he was the "new Lincoln." Didn't his election start a civil war that ended in hundreds of thousands of dead Americans? Yup, I think I recollect that. So I guess we've been warned, huh?
May God judge these tyrannical, power-hungry warmongers by turning them over to the deepest depths of Hell. Murdering bastards. And they think they have the right to condemn us all to servitude and kill us if we don't submit. They'll find out differently. We ain't the defenseless fetuses their policies have been murdering for decades. We can shoot back.
"Game the system"?
"GAME THE SYSTEM"!?!?
How about we "game the system" with hundreds of thousands of these, Mr. President?
How long do you think your "system" will last then?
Mike Vanderboegh
III
4 comments:
+1!
Prof E
III
"What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty..."
That's a terrible analogy. State law requires auto insurance; if the policy holder doesn't drive, his vehicles never leave private property, or if he does not own a vehicle, he is not obligated to hold a policy. The policy holder may also choose the insurance agency, the level of coverage (above the state-mandated minimum), and may also cancel the policy at any time, for any reason, so long as he does not drive a restricted vehicle on state roads.
Since the analogy fails to build a foundation on which to lay an argument, the remainder of the authoritarian gibberish is unsupported, indefensible and should necessarily be ignored.
I think the most insulting thing is that he assumes that people who are not buying into the government health care system are trying to get a free ride, until they need insurance. He fails to understand that people's main beef is that we already have health insurance, and don't want the government involved. We don't want to pay for the health care of others (who are more than likely "gaming the system").
We want to be left alone, to make our own decisions, as we see fit for ourselves. This is an idea called 'freedom,' which these people have a disturbingly difficult time understanding.
Just what in the hell were those people doing in Detroit with their hands out dear leader?
"Gaming the System"...perhaps?
You make me sick...
G III
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