State Ordered Health Care......Social Medicine?

[JustRalph]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20255585/

I found the penalties part of this article to be very interesting

~snippet~

"I was moderately outraged," Smith said while grilling burgers and assembling lobster rolls. He called health insurance "something for your own good that you're being required to do."

Persuading the young and healthy to join the health plan is key to its success. That's why the state is spending $1.3 million to advertise on Red Sox cable broadcasts. "Their audience is ours," said the spokesman for the state program, Richard R. Powers. "Most of the people in the state who haven't gotten insurance are young, and most of those are men."

So far, only a few thousand people a month have signed up, but the deadline is still four months away, and even then the penalty for noncompliance is weak. Those who can't show proof of insurance by the end of 2007 lose their state tax exemption when they file their income taxes in 2008, or about $219.

The penalty increases in January 2008. For every month in 2008 that they don't have insurance, residents will have to pay a penalty of up to half the cost of the lowest-cost plan. That could be as much as $150 a month, or $1,800 a year, due at tax time in 2009.
The definition of personal responsibility may be expanding. As the Boston Globe's liberal editorial page said of the penalties, "That's tough, but it's necessary to change the behavior of people who are used to going without insurance, either because they are healthy or are accustomed to relying on the Uncompensated Care Pool to pay for their care."

‘A stiff requirement’
Smith sounds like he'll go ahead and sign up.

"I'm required to shell out an additional 6 grand a year now," he said, guessing at what it might cost him. "I mean — that's a stiff requirement when you're only making 30 grand a year or under, you know?"

~much more at the link~

[DJofSD]

Make sure this gets applied to all of the illegal aliens too.

[Tom]

What's next - a 5 year plan for farming?
Welcome to Russia.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Tom

What's next - a 5 year plan for farming?
Welcome to Russia.

Where the government is first and the people are always finishing a very distant second -- a scenario only the closet commies on this forum would be able to applaud.

Boxcar

[ddog]

When you get broadsided by the next uninsured motorist do you want to pay for that out of your pocket?
Do young people not have medical emergencies?
Wow, first I heard of that one.
I seem to recall some hospital time in my 20s and 30s.
Why should you have paid my bill, that not I would ever ask.

bs as usual wrapped in somekind of 50s hysteria.

[DJofSD]

When you get broadsided by the next uninsured motorist do you want to pay for that out of your pocket?

Don't you have uninsured motorist coverage on your auto insurance? Major medical?

[skate]

medical cost too high.

doctors are in short supply. which keeps the cost high.

train more doctors.


take the limit, to train doctors, off.
take off the limit.

[ddog]

that's just the point!
I should not have to pay for that. If you hit me you should have insurance.
Also, the gvt is not behind this plan, the insurance guys are.

They just bought the gvt out on the cheap.

[ddog]

I don't know about the limits on doctors but i suspect many are run out by high Insurance costs and the HMO system itself.

rumour has it anyway..
Cuba will train a bunch for us, i think they offered some we turned them down.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by ddog

When you get broadsided by the next uninsured motorist do you want to pay for that out of your pocket?
Do young people not have medical emergencies?
Wow, first I heard of that one.
I seem to recall some hospital time in my 20s and 30s.
Why should you have paid my bill, that not I would ever ask.

bs as usual wrapped in somekind of 50s hysteria.

You're comparing apples to oranges. The reason states require car owners to have insurance is due to the physical harm and property damage they can inflict upon others. Even so...have you heard of law abiding car owners having Uninsured Motorists riders attached to their insurance? Again,the reason is to protect themselves against damages scofflaws can inflict.

But...for the state to require everyone to have personal health insurance -- now that's another matter entirely. My insurance premiums don't buy me protection from harm others can bring against me, or for harm I can bring to others. If a person doesn't want to spend his or her money on health insurance, that's his/her own personal and private decision. In free society, the state has no business forcing people to spend their money on goods or services they don't want. By the same token, that person must be prepared to face any consequences for that kind of decision. Therefore, the individual who exercises his right to make that kind of decision must also be willing to assume personal responsibility for it.

Boxcar
p.s. Spare me the sob stories of how the state is doing this for the "public welfare" or 'public interest". I've never bought into that kind Clintonesque commie collectivism -- nor will I ever!

[ljb]

Just curious, does your state require automobile insurance ? Mine does, damn liberal pinko commies. As far as apples to oranges don't you think an uninsured sick dude is a drain on the economy in more ways then one ?
The most efficient health care available today is Medicare. Overhead is only 5 to 10 percent versus 20 to 30 percent for private insurance. As Lefty would say, hmm ?

[kenwoodallpromos]

Insurance for catastrophic problems should be mandatory.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by ljb

Just curious, does your state require automobile insurance ? Mine does, damn liberal pinko commies. As far as apples to oranges don't you think an uninsured sick dude is a drain on the economy in more ways then one ?
The most efficient health care available today is Medicare. Overhead is only 5 to 10 percent versus 20 to 30 percent for private insurance. As Lefty would say, hmm ?

You closet commies don't get it, do you? The "drain on the economy" refrain is just another way of saying "for the public welfare" or "in the public interest". People have a moral obligation to take personal responsibility for their decisions. If someone chooses to not protect himself, then he personally must be prepared to pay the price (whatever that may be!) for making that kind of decision. The government has no business usurping any individual's rights over how he chooses to care for or maintain the health of his own body. Since women have rights over their own bodies, then don't all citizens of this country have the same rights!? If not, why not?

Boxcar

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by kenwoodallpromos

Insurance for catastrophic problems should be mandatory.

The individual should decide if "mandatory" is good for him or not. Not some Nanny State who can't think beyond its nose, and whose only purpose in life is to create unmanagable, expensive, unbelievably complex and highly inefficient bureaucracies. These things a Nanny State does well -- all too well -- and always, always at individuals' expense!

Boxcar

[delayjf]

I see a run for the border for those living in close proximity to it.