It is typically American to wish to be independent in thought and action. That typical American attitude serves us all well most of the time. However, that attitude also carries with it a responsibility to accept the consequences of our actions, or inaction. Too often we want our cake and eat it too. We do not want to be told by anyone, especially government, what to do. Yet, when we become ill or injured, we expect the health system (which means people: doctors, nurses, medical staff and medical facilities) to take care of us and never mind the cost please. Also, don’t ask me to pay the bill . . . didn’t you know, I don’t have any health insurance.
In the case of health insurance, we have argued, against our basic instincts, that it is an individual responsibility to obtain and maintain health insurance. Businesses and employers are not health insurers and should, we believe, over time be removed from the burden of having to obtain, maintain, oversee and administer health insurance for their employees. As we have long ago posted our plan for Real Health Reform. The first 5 elements we articulated under “the plan” related in fact to the individual mandate (as it is now called in the on going Congressional debate).
1. All persons must have health insurance from the private sector or government sponsored plans.
2. Proof of insurance would be required to get any type of license, enroll in school, apply for job, yearly confirmation will be required, etc. just as with automobile insurance.
3. Fine of $1,000 if presenting to Doctor, Hospital, etc., for service without insurance, and must pay all expenses for services.
4. The truly financially disadvantaged should be folded into the current Medicaid system with revisions; in that they should pay needs based premiums. As such, Medicaid, Medicare, disability, workers compensation, Government employees, Veterans, Retirement and children’s programs would not be significantly changed.
5. All company-sponsored programs would be phased out over three years (better than a tax break).
Many conservatives and civil libertarians will take offense at our position on this and we acknowledge that this position is in contrast to our natural tendencies in regard to personal freedoms. Nevertheless, we cannot have real health reform without citizen responsibility being part of the equation along with meaningful health insurance reform and regulation . . . obi jo
“The Plan” Key Features – http://realhealthreform.wordpress.com/the-plan/
As health legislation advances, outrage is building in the blogosphere and elsewhere at the idea that the government would force people to buy a commercial product if they did not want it or could not afford it. Opponents also argue that forcing people to buy one commercial product opens the door to forcing them to buy others. One goal of the legislation has been to expand health insurance to everyone _ including people who do not want it, because only then, proponents argue, would the risk pools be broad enough to make insurance more affordable. Congress is debating how much to penalize people who do not comply, seeking an amount that is high enough so that they do not simply opt for the fine rather than buy insurance.
U.S. Has Right to Require Insurance, White House Says – http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/us-has-right-to-require-insurance-white-house-says/
The requirement that everyone buy health insurance moved a step closer to reality last week — and possibly a step closer to being challenged in court. Conservatives and libertarians, mostly, have been advancing the theory lately that the individual mandate, in which the government would compel everyone to buy insurance or pay a penalty, is unconstitutional. All five committees in the Democratic-led Congress that have taken up a health care plan this year have supported an individual mandate, with the Senate Finance Committee upholding the idea last week. The bills grant exceptions for a variety of reasons, including religious objections and financial hardship; they also exempt American Indians. Throughout the nation’s history, the federal government has imposed its will in various ways, of course, whether through military drafts, the advent of the federal income tax or the requirement that working people contribute part of their earnings to Social Security.
Still, a health insurance mandate would in many ways be new for the United States. In 1994, during the debate over the Clinton health care plan, the Congressional Budget Office described an individual mandate as ”an unprecedented form of federal action.”Those favoring an overhaul of the health care system say that requiring everyone to carry insurance is essential to making insurance affordable, chiefly by broadening the risk pool to include those who are young and healthy and go without insurance now. The insurance lobby would not support overhauling the system without the individual mandate. President Obama supports it too, although during the presidential campaign last year he supported a mandate for children only.
PRESCRIPTIONS MAKING SENSE OF THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE; Insurance Mandate: The Legal Issues – http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DD1F3DF934A1575AC0A96F9C8B63&scp=1&sq=Seelye+and+mandate&st=nyt
“Freedom is not created by government, nor is it a gift from those in political power. It is, in fact, secured, more than anything else, by those limitations I mentioned that are placed on those in government. It is the absence of the government censor in our newspapers and broadcast stations and universities. It is the lack of fear by those who gather in religious services. It is the absence of official abuse of those who speak up against the policies of their government…Jefferson, in his first inaugural, spoke for his countrymen when he said, ‘A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned, This is the sum of good government…In America, it is the Government that works for the people and not the other way around.”
President Ronald Reagan’s words articulated in a major address on America’s Economic Bill of Rights on July 3, 1987
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