The Affordable Care Act's requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Without Free Choice Vouchers, there is little in the health reform law that discourages employers from increasingly passing the burden of health care costs onto their employees.
The health care law's individual mandate forces nearly all individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The mandate cannot be severed from the rest of the law because it is the primary mechanism through which the law's changes are supported. Without the mandate, the law collapses.
The idea that somehow you're going to tax the 'rich' enough to pay for quality health care for every American who doesn't have it, can't afford it or stands to lose it, not to mention for all of the undocumented aliens who receive it for free now and presumably will continue to in Obama health land, is almost laughable.
Instead of forcing everyone to buy health insurance, Congress should pass a law protecting the uninsured from being charged more than the insurance companies are for a given service.
Of course, plenty of people don't think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.
Just dying should not be a reason for taxes.
We shouldn't be undermining Medicare for those who need it most in order to give more tax cuts to those who need them least.
We don't want the efficiency of the federal government and the compassion of the IRS to run our health care.
While the federal government is committed to paying 100% of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care.
The highest-income Americans don't need tax-free health insurance, mortgage interest deductions or deferred taxation on retirement funds.