I read excerpts from the health care bill that recently passed the house of representatives. I saw that there is a free five year health care portion of the new bill. All you have to do is not pay your health care tax and then plead guilty before a judge. Then if you are lucky you get not only free health care for up to five years but also room and board and a job - it's called prison! For many working poor this could be a viable alternative as well as a career path.
H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.”
[page 1]
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…”
[page 2]
- – – – – – – – – -
“Criminal penalties
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]
“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Dave Camp (R-MI).
According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016. [Source]
So if we look to the past for the future consider that if the health care reform bill is passed it may become another social security, medicare type boondoogle. In this scenario what we get is a health care system where there is rampant corruption, waste and fraud. People will have to fight the bureacracy and red tape to get their benefits. Numerous revisions to the plan will be passed with increases in taxes and decreases in benefits as the provider corporations get fatter and fatter. (Perfect example of the two economies at work.) Then the system will "run out of money" as more and more baby boomers retire. The tax will be collected through the existing payroll tax system (conveniently) and it will end up simply doubling the tax we now pay for social security - currently 15.3%.
Are you ready to give up an additional 15% of your income to a corrupt government which will use the money to support some of it's biggest lobbying groups - medical insurance and pharmaceuticals? I am all for socialized medicine, I just don't want the government running it.
This should be interesting to see what happens if this bill is passed on or near Christmas Eve. There was another very famous bill that was passed in a 'light' session of Congress just before Christmas in 1913. Can you guess what it was? Answer here.
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