What is your opinion of the individual mandate in the healthcare law. Do you think the government should be able to require someone to purchase insurance? Do you think businesses should be required to provide health insurance for their employees?
No and no. The problem needs to be tackled from the cost of healthcare, not healthcare insurance. That's what's killing us. And it's killing us because of the government programs. Reform them, tighten them up, some level of deregulation is probably necessary as well.
I believe in a mandate from the masses, not from some farcial, closed door, partisan ceremony. But really, being the partial Libertarian that I am, I do not believe that government should be allowed to mandate. These mandates have to be in there for this scheme to work. I don't want any of it.
I know most of you know more about both health care and health insurance than I do, and it turns out that some of you know it all. If someone goes to ER now, without insurance, WE ALL PAY FOR IT, through increased costs, spread to cover the "loss" when the bill is not paid. Doc's, hospitals, and drug companies are not gonna eat the costs, they pass it on. If everyone has insurance, the costs (due to increased (presumably) risk, will be passed on, but spread over a much, much broader base. Just so you know, and again, some of you know it all. The biggest benefit of insurance is NOT getting stuff paid for, but getting stuff paid for at the DISCOUNT the insurance company is able to gouge out of providers. You got no insurance, you are billed and expected to pay at full price. When you don't pay, the full cost is passed on to the rest of us, not the deeply discounted cost to the insurance company. Healthcare cost are the issue, not insurance, but insurance for all can mitigate the costs to the rest of us. I don't necessarily support "Obama Care" but I support doing something to bring down the cost of health care for the once middle class. Saying "no" is more fun, doing something is more productive.
Eliminate Medicare fraud, institute tough tort reform, eliminate pharmaceutical price fixing, encourage competition among health insurance providers, subsidize promising med students are a few things that would help. But most importantly, quit trying to act like the government can run the damn thing. They can't.
Get off your high horse. It doesn't take knowledge of healthcare to know that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. The government cannot force you to buy a thing. Regulating commerce is not the same as coercing commerce. Plain and simple. The individual mandate harms all of us because it diminishes our freedom.
I agree, but health care for those who don't have health care insurance has to be paid for. So here is my ignorant and simplistic plan for covering the uncovered: First of all, every working American has to fill out a new W2. The only difference in the new form is an entry that reads: Check here if you choose not to own health insurance. The IRS creates a database of the non-insured that is accessible to all health care providers. It will also maintain a payment fund. When an uninsured-by-choice patient goes to the doctor, they are presented with a bill to pay on the spot. If they can not pay, the provider informs the IRS, which pays the bill and simultaneously flags the patient for his/her employer. The flag activates a healthcare deduction on their paycheck, paying back the IRS over a set period of time, and including a penalty to maintain the fund. The penalty (either a percentage of the original bill or a set figure) also serves to alleviate any "unfair advantage" the non-insured might hold for not having to endure the payroll deductions the insured face. And since every payment the government makes must be paid back in full plus the penalty, the fund should never run out. Like I said, extremely simplistic and no doubt full of holes. Flame away.
I object on principle. More government is not going to be the answer. Also this assumes these un-insureds are working and have wages to garnish, and aren't some Mexican or something.
