So it's not a mandate

[WeekendWarrior]

"You are required to have health insurance. If you don't, you will pay a tax penalty of $695 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount ($2,085) per family or 2.5 percent of household income."

Per http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/what-health-bill-means-for-you/?nav=most_emailed

It's a tax penalty. Huh. I think that's basically what I said before. A tax.

In other words, you have a choice.

[galileoreloaded]

1. What a choice. n/t

[old mark]

2. Never really was a "mandate", just like ther never really were

"death panels"....
Media bullshit.
mark

[DrDan]

3. of course it is a mandate

do you know what a mandate is? It is simply a command to do something coming from an authoritative body.

This is one that comes with a penalty for not doing it.

[FSogol]

4. Yup no different that car insurance. In VA if you want to be an uninsured motorist,

you pay a $700 fee. In our current political climate, you cannot call anything a tax increase. Thus the mandate.

[kctim]

11. Really?

You are allowed to drive uninsured if you pay $700?

[FSogol]

14. Yup. (Athough it could be higher. Been a while since I went to the DMV.)

[kctim]

19. Damn, wish MO would let us do that

unless.
Do you have to pay that even if you do not own a vehicle?

[customerserviceguy]

25. It's a good analogy

There are people with such bad driving records that a $700 fee per year is way cheaper than even simple liability insurance (mine costs about $900 a year here in NY) in a rural state would cost. This mandate in the HCR law is exactly the same thing, and further, it goes to pay for the catastrophic care of people who don't have insurance.

So, the healthy and the well-off will see it as a cheap form of that do-nothing so-called catastrophic care policy that they sell on the side of the HSA's.

[zipplewrath]

5. A distinction searching for a difference

I'm sure all that makes a difference to the lawyers. Otherwise, it's merely so much window dressing. You are obligated to buy insurance.

[Windy]

6. the fee is to cover all of the cost associated with emergency room runs and non payment by people

who are uninsured. Pretty cheap penalty if you ask me, all things considered!

[my2sense]

7. What will the approximate rate of healthcare premiums be for a family of 3

Ballpark figure?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. Face meets Palm...

What on Earth do you think a mandate is?

It is a requirement. As in, "You are required to have health insurance..."

And if you defy the mandate there is a penalty.

Saying "you have a choice" applies to pretty much everything. By your reasoning a "no parking" zone is merely a suggestion since you have the option of parking there and paying the associated penalty.

(If the OP is sarcasm or parody I apologize for not getting it.)

[Bitwit1234]

9. Rachel said in no uncertain words either yesterday or the day before

THE FINE WAS DROPPED. LOOK IT UP AGAIN.

[WeekendWarrior]

13. She may have, but the Washington Post still says it's on. nt

[laughingliberal]

16. I don't see how that could be true

It was certainly in the Senate bill. The reconciliation bill the House just passed changed the amount of the fine. Perhaps she meant the amount of the fine was lowered (dropped?).

[ixion]

10. Yeah, sort of like you have a choice between robbing and not robbing a bank

that is, if you're a law-abiding citizen, you have no choice.

If you don't pay the mandate, you pay the fine.

If you pay a fine, you will no doubt throw a red flag at the IRS, making you more susceptible to audit, because it's a fine nonetheless.

It's no real choice.

[WeekendWarrior]

12. My POINT BEING

That the legal fight against the "mandate" will fail, because the government can claim that it's merely a tax.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. It is a mandate, a forced purchase of private products

Word games do not change that fact. It is a mandate. Now, let's move on to the rest of the language you use. What is a 'family' as compared to a 'household' under this law? What is the difference between the terms? This is important, because the law considers my family to be 'not a family' and yet at times we are considered a 'household' although at the same time, no one can file as head of this household.
So, please, feel free to explain those terms as well. Are we a household without a head, but not a family? Are we a family for figuring premiums but not for subsidies? You claim to know all, so let's hear it. Household. Family. Head of Houshold. Premiums and subsidies. How does all that work for those of us who are not equal under your lovely law?

[WeekendWarrior]

23. Actually words make a lot of difference

in the legal world and I'm guessing the attorneys fighting the lawsuits brought by the states would agree.

[laughingliberal]

15. When you get right down to it, I guess that's true of any law

I'm not mandated to follow any of them if I'm willing to pay the price for breaking them.

[ejpoeta]

17. the sad thing is... that's less than half (the $2000) of my deductible for my

former health insurance we had until we went on family health plus.

[midnight]

20. Mr. Obama said. to get health insurance, " is absolutely not a tax increase.”

Mr. Obama said. “For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance, is absolutely not a tax increase."

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/the-definition-of-a-tax/


"we stand on the precipice of doing something truly radical in our government, by demanding that Americans pay almost as much money to private insurance companies as they do in federal taxes:"http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/19/fact-sheet-the-truth-about-the-health-care-bill/

[Bluenorthwest]

21. thanks for the non response. Shows the depth of your thinking

It is a mandate, and one that is to be unfairly enforced against some minorities for the sake of the Tea Bag Faith.

[RedCappedBandit]

22. I could also go sell drugs. I just have to go to jail when I get caught.

lolwat?

[MilesColtrane]

24. If you fail to pay a tax...

you will pay a fine AND you have to pay the tax on top of it.

If you fail to buy health insurance, you will only pay a fine. You don't have to pay a fine AND purchase health insurance.