Read Dick Morris' latest column.
Jail For No Insurance Under Pelosi Bill
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation reported that the House version of the health care bill specifies that those who don't buy health insurance and do not pay the fine of about 2.5% of their income for failing to do so can face a penalty of up to five years in prison!
The bill describes the penalties as follows:
* 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]
That anyone should face prison for not buying health insurance is simply incredible.
And how much will the stay-out-of-jail insurance cost? The Joint Committee noted that "according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the lowest-cost family non-group plan under HR 3862 (the Pelosi bill) would cost $15,000 by 2016."
Obama's bill only provides subsidies to help pay this enormous sum after families making about $45,000 have paid 8% of their income for insurance and after those earning a household income of about $65,000 have kicked in 12%.
The Joint Committee on Taxation noted that while the Senate Finance Committee version of the bill did not include criminal penalties, "The House Democrats' bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail."
Remember that simply buying catastrophic insurance, which may be all the young uninsured family needs, does not constitute having adequate insurance under the Obama bill. It has to be total, all inclusive insurance for one to avoid the penalties in the legislation. That is because Obama wants to use these premiums from the currently uninsured to subsidize his program.
So Ms. Pelosi is requiring Americans to pay these steep premiums, or a fine of 2.5% of their income for not doing so, or, potentially, go to prison!
Anyone who is familiar with the U.S. prison system can attest to the large number of people incarcerated for similar white collar offenses. That the House bill would treat failure to carry health insurance or pay the fine as tax evasion or willful nonpayment is amazing!
And where is the constitutional basis for requiring everyone to buy insurance? It is OK for a state to make drivers pay for automobile insurance. Driving is not a right, it is a privilege, and the state may regulate it by demanding insurance. Banks can require homeowners to buy insurance as a condition of their lending. But how does the federal government get the right to require a family to buy health insurance or face a civil penalty and, failing that, to face either a criminal fine or jail?
The tough penalties in the House bill are designed to keep insurance companies from opposing the bill. It was the relaxation of these penalties in the Senate Finance Committee version of the legislation that led the companies to reverse field and come out in opposition to the legislation. The insurance companies want to see their coffers swell when tens of millions of new customers are required to buy insurance. The more draconian the penalties for failing to pay them large sums of money to pad their bottom lines, the better.
The more you read this bill, the worse it gets.
Folks. I don't claim to be prescient, but all the clues were there PRIOR to last November's election. Does anyone in this God-forsaken country KNOW what the constitution says? Does anyone care? If this ever gets signed by President Stalin, this country is gone... Your freedoms are gone, your liberty is gone... the American Dream is gone. Enter despair for those with eyes to see and minds to understand... enter ignorant bliss and mindless adoration for a government actively pissing on all the rest... us included. Can't tell the difference between the two? The ones with any sense and ability to think for themselves will be holding aloft umbrellas.
"Scare mongering, Eric. That's all you're doing is scare mongering."
ReplyDeleteI can hear the libs admonishing you thusly. Where are all those libs who were screaming about the loss of rights under Bush when he tried to protect us with his surveilance programs? There WILL be suffering from health care reform that everyone will feel. Of course the libs will blame it on Bush.
The more I hear and learn about this president and the current Dems in Congress, the more contempt I feel for those who voted Democrat. And I have lots of friends and family who did so. It's getting harder to separate the rage I feel toward Barry, Pelosi, Reid and the rest from the knowledge that people I love helped elect them.
God have mercy on the United States of America. Or at least on the 48% who DIDN'T vote Democrat.
And it is contempt that is keeping me away from my family this holiday season. I have always made the trip to visit my mother and sisters, but not this year. I just can't look them in the face knowing how ignorant and how culpable they are toward this sorry state of affairs that is the Obama-Pelosi-Reid regime.
ReplyDeleteThe supporters of this healthcare tragedy, these intellectual morons, can't even tell us where in the Constitution they derive the power to do what they're doing. What they have done is unconstitutional,and un-American. And the most frightening part in this is they just don't care. They don't care what the Constitution allows or disallows. They're going to do it anyway.
We have ceased to be a nation of laws... a Constitutional republic, and instead have become a nation of intellectual defectives, with no genuine understanding of our history and the founders who built this nation from scratch... upon CHRISTIAN foundations.
Two generations ago we threw God out of the classroom, and today we are ruled by ignorance... and outright evil.
I posted on this also. It is frankly frightening that Congress and Obama has blatantly violated our Constitution to pass this legislation.
ReplyDeleteIf they succeed in stealing our freedom to decide on whether we want Health Insurance, the sky is the limit for them. There will be no Liberty they won't be able to take away from us.
Mark my words.
As I said over at my place, they have thrown down the gauntlet. I will respond to their challenge by, as they put it, "willfully" refusing to pay them one red cent. Let them try to take me to jail for that. Someone will get hurt. That, I promise.
And it is contempt that is keeping me away from my family this holiday season... I just can't look them in the face knowing how ignorant and how culpable they are toward this sorry state of affairs that is the Obama-Pelosi-Reid regime.
ReplyDeleteEric, you would let mere political differences cause you to despise your own family? Please, relax, breathe, take it easy. Things are never as bad as they seem and the love of family is part of what makes this poor fallen world good and holy.
We just recently celebrated my parent's 60th anniversary and we had a big reunion with brothers and cousins getting together who haven't all been together in decades.
One of the glories of the weekend was seeing the pagans and the Christians, the Right and the Left, sitting down to break bread, to laugh and laugh out loud with joy with one another.
Embrace your family, Eric. Let go of the bitterness. Please consider it for your own sake.
I can't find an email address for you or I'd email you personally. Please delete this as soon as you get it.
And Mark, I know better than try to reason with you, but for what it's worth:
ReplyDeleteOne of the rules of Civil Disobedience is being willing to pay the penalty. By all means, dissent if you think it right, don't pay your taxes if you think it right. But then, accept the penalty for it like a man. Learn from the peaceful ways of Dr King, if you're going to protest.
Embracing violence will only hurt you and your loved ones (and possibly innocent police officers and bystanders - surely you wouldn't want that). You WILL lose. Your children WILL lose.
Please feel free to delete this once you've read it.