Many concervatives are complaining about being forced to buy health insurance...

[froggy]

...under Obama's plan? they say they are saving money each month in case of an emergency. My friend (who was 25 and normally healthy at the time) thought she could get away with this but had to go to the ER because of an issue with her heart. It ended costing over $18,000 with a 6 hour stay and a few tests. Do you people realize how much health costs could be without being insured? Do you realize the taxpayers would end up footing the bill while you went bankrupt?

 

[BradforPresident]

They foot the bill already!!! ...if your friend couldn't pay, would she still receive treatment? Of course, because it's a LAW. Do you think all the illegal aliens have insurance that come into all the SoCal hospitals have insurance or do you think they save up their money and pay the hospitals back?

 

[GregN]

Do you realize you're not thinking beyond stage one? Do you realize that there are OTHER ways to remedy the high costs of health care, and OTHER ways to make it more accessible for more people? We don't have to have this massive reform plan. But instead Obama and some Democrats want to ram it through Congress, but they failed, at least for now.

I don't understand these people who want to use anecdotal evidence as arguments for Obamacare, and then tell us all about how much this, and how much that, as if the laws of economics mean nothing. Then they want to treat us as if we're the stupid ones, and we're ignorant.

 

[Joeintexas]

So you are basically opposed to allowing young people the freedom to make their own decisions.

Remember when America was about Liberty?

 

[Stony]

No one is going to force anyone to buy anything.

 

[Steve]

We do, but there are better ways to recoup those costs from the point of view of the healthcare system we're talking about.

As it is, the plan hits people who want to opt out with a tax penalty of thousands of dollars, on top of the taxes they'll be paying like everyone else to support the system. That's not much of an opt out, and I don't think that falls in with an American concept of liberty defined as freedom from government.

What would work quite well without causing collateral is invoking that tax penalty on people who opt out, but if they have no unpaid medical bills at the end of the year, the government refunds them the money like a security deposit. If you don't damage the system, you don't have to pay for it. If you did damage the system, they'll keep your money to repair the hole. That allows for independence, and the conservative side of me can get behind that.

That could be arranged through the tax structure just as easily as the current plan, and the only reason why it isn't there already is because not allowing any exceptions will bring in more tax revenue. I'm not okay with that. We can talk healthcare reform, and I think we should, but let's get it right.

 

[phloyd87]

since when do republicans give a sh!t about *other* taxpayers?

 

[CommonSense1]

I'm not, as it won't pass!

 

[NotMyFaultt]

Dude, if Obama-care is so wonderful, why doesn't the government have that for their health care plan?

How are they going to insure an extra 47+ million people, have the same number of providers and not change the level of care? Do the math!

The government has no business getting in the business of health care decisions. Yes, we need reform but Obama-care is no reform!

 

[ACEBOONECOON]

Obama needs to worry about lowering the costs of health care, that's what needs to change. Not change who's selling insurance he is just trying to corner the market and make some Obamie cash.