nickqt
Diamond Member
- Jan 15, 2015
- 8,167
- 9,150
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lol
Isn't that kind of a necessary evil though? If we make insurance companies cover everyone, then we have to have features to force people to buy their products before they get seriously ill. Hey, I'd love nothing better than to go free market, I just don't see any way it can work given the sometimes extremely high cost of medical care and intrinsic human nature.
The mandate was almost universally supported until it became a key component of the ACA. Then it became the devil.
If you want to dissuade healthcare freeloaders, there has to be some sort of punishment/tax that swats someone into getting health insurance. That said, there are still plenty of ways to avoid it. Private health insurance through an employer, having your own health insurance without going through the Marketplace, having Medicaid in a state the provides it, being too poor to qualify for a Marketplace subsidy, health insurance itself costing more than 8% (I think, top of head) of your total income, etc.
As far as punishments go, the ACA Mandate tax is pretty tame, considering almost 90% of Americans either don't need to worry about it because they have insurance/Medicaid, or because they meet the criteria to not have to pay the tax.
And, there will be people who will literally not die, or go bankrupt, because that evil tyrant Obama made them buy health insurance instead of paying a small tax/fine. That's the fun part of it.