According to the non-partisan JCT (Joint Committee on Taxation),they have confirmed that Pelosi's Health Care Legislation does include language that leads to large fines and even possible imprisonment for not having Health Insurance. Failure to comply with Pelosi's mandate to buy Health Insurance will result in numerous civil and criminal penalties including fines that could go as high as $250,000. Failure to pay these fines will result in imprisonment.
Wow can this really be happening in my country? Fining and imprisoning fellow American Citizens for not having Health Insurance? Is possible "Free" Health Care really worth it America? This is a shockingly oppressive Socialist debacle. Lets just hope & pray that some brave & reasonable Democrats stand up to Pelosi and vote against this mess. Start the praying!
First, this mandate will not pass constitutiona muster, even the CBO has said the following;
“A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action,” stated the CBO. “The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”
“An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique,” said the CBO. “First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society. Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government.”
In addition, an October 2009 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report said that mandating individuals to buy health insurance may be "the most challenging question" posed by the health care reform proposal.
“Whether such a requirement would be constitutional under the Commerce Clause is perhaps the most challenging question posed by such a proposal"
While this mandate might sound good and stir up the more rabid base it won't survive a constitutional challenge.
One reason why the Speaker has this requirement in the bill is because it is supposed to scare the otherwise healthy into some for of health insurance namely the "public option" as a premium offset for the sheer number of poeple that will flood the system that will burden it, "pre-existing conditions" etc. The problem though, is that the penalty tax is a lot less than the actual cost of purchasing insurance. so a young person is more likely than not to just pay the tax penalty at the end of the year rather than participate anyway. That is the flaw in the program. What you end up with is another deficit adding Federal program and one that this nation will have to borrow over a Trillion dolllars from China to fund. This is all provided the "mandate" itself passes the constitutional test which it won't.
