This mandate thing is killing me. The position that Obama took in the primaries is the correct one. It is why I supported him from the get go. He had it right in Iraq from day one and he had it right on health care reform. Had.
I think anyone who may or may not benefit from HCR may eventually abandon support because of the mandate and it’s IRS-collected fines.
It is onerous and wrong for many reasons. It is fascism to compel the public to buy insurance from private companies with the IRS enforcing. In other words, we are now going to have to pay taxes directly to private corporations. Our nation’s favorite war was against fascism, remember?
The millions of people who will now be insured may not be as happy about it as one might think. Is it that great to have the IRS compel you to pay a bill you were not available to afford in the first place?
As Old Obama said, “People don’t have insurance because they can’t afford it, not because they don’t want it.” There was obviously some political calculus in the sausage making that made the flip make sense at the time. I think it is poison to the long term success of the reform.
Unless..
After putting on a good show on a few other issues, it is critical that we get back to fixing this, or at least talking about it before the next election.
The New BF Deal is simple: Live with this nasty Mandate or resurrect the public option. There won’t be any Repug support, but by then the question will have changed to something like “Do you want the IRS on your ass or do you want a public option that is more affordable to buy?”
It is a lot more palatable/reasonable to pay taxes to the government in return for a non-profit entitlement, versus paying taxes that will be artificially higher, so as to include a healthy profit margin for private corporations.
Perhaps we could even hope for a hybrid: no mandate per se, but a public option that sets pricing for both it’s participants AS WELL AS any uninsured that use services. The later group could then be compelled to pay via the IRS (mandated payment for services rendered vs. for insurance), having actually used a service, plus some fine/interest. That would limit the IRS enforcement to people who owe money for health care services versus, well, potentially everyone.