I have been watching the various versions of the bills coming out, and one version sounds ok, but really has some aspects to it that are very troublesome.
This version would have within it the demand that EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the U.S. be forced to pay insurance premiums, and that there would be find levied if those persons did not pay. $750 per year for a single person who refused or could not afford to pay for the insurance, $3500 per year for a family if they could not afford to pay.
INSURANCE MARKET REFORMS
All bills bar discrimination based on gender or pre-existing medical conditions, guarantee coverage and seal in benefits with no annual or lifetime caps.
The Senate Health Committee and Finance Committee versions would allow variable premiums, while the House bill would eliminate co-pays for preventive care.
COVERAGE
The Senate Health Committee bill would require individuals to obtain coverage, with government help if necessary, or pay a penalty of up to $750 per year. Employers with more than 25 employees would have to pay 60 percent of coverage for workers or pay $750 per year penalty.
The House bill also has both individual and employer requirements, while the Senate Finance Committee bill is likely to include a mandate for individuals to obtain coverage but not for employers to help pay for it.
Now, from doing some quick research, I have found out that those people would be imprisoned for non-payment! Basically this would allow the federal government to punish the poorest in the country, and there are some states where the “3 strikes” laws would effect this too.
So, what would be the possible outcomes? A single person who is, perhaps, homeless or barely getting by would be fined $750. If they could not pay or refused to pay for insurance, then those people would be off to prison. The federal government is basically becoming a vicious bully here. Do not pay for insurance and you become liable for imprisonment, do that 3 times and that poor person literally gets a LIFE SENTENCE? That is truly vicious. Where does the idea of the “American Dream” fit in here?
If a family, like those of someone like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, or many others who happen to be born into poverty, could not afford those insurance premiums, then their fathers, who were doing the best they could, would end up in prison!
The insurance companies love this idea! Force families to go without, force people to pay premiums, force every single person to get CORPORATE insurance or go to prison. That is truly a scheme worthy of Machievelli! It is well known that the insurance corporations DEMAND that they get every single person into their pockets, and, if you refuse or cannot pay, then the federal or state government will be in the position of putting the poor into prison for non-payment.
Remember, this is FEDERAL law, so the penalties could be nasty indeed.
The U.S. Supreme Court has placed limits on incarceration for nonpayment of fines. In Williams v. Illinois, 399 U.S. 235, 90 S. Ct. 2018, 26 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1970), the defendant, Willie E. Williams, was convicted of petty theft and sentenced to one year in prison and a $500 fine, the maximum sentence allowed under the applicable statute. When Williams was unable to pay the fine upon completing his year in jail, he was kept incarcerated to “work off” the fine at a rate of $5 a day. Williams appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, no state may increase the sentence of a defendant beyond the maximum period specified by statute for failure to pay a fine.
Shortly after the Williams case, the Supreme Court ruled that a state may not convert a fine into incarceration if the conviction warrants only a fine. In Tate v. Short, 401 U.S. 395, 91 S. Ct. 668, 28 L. Ed. 2d 130 (1971), the defendant, Preston A. Tate, was unable to pay $425 in fines for traffic offenses and was committed to prison to work off his fine at a rate of $5 a day. The Supreme Court ruled that a state may not “impos[e] a fine as a sentence and then automatically conver[t] it into a jail term solely because the defendant is indigent and cannot forthwith pay the fine in full.”
Neither the Williams ruling nor the Tate ruling prevents a court from imprisoning a defendant who is able, but refuses, to pay a fine. The court may do so after finding that the defendant was somehow responsible for the failure to pay and that alternative forms of punishment would be inadequate to meet the state’s interest in punishment and deterrence (Beardenv. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 103 S. Ct. 2064, 76 L. Ed. 2d 221 [1983]).
In a case of willful nonpayment, the court may order incarceration for a period of time specified under statute. In Kentucky, a prison term of up to six months may be ordered if the unpaid fine was imposed for the conviction of a felony. Nonpayment of a misdemeanor fine may result in a prison term of up to one-third the maximum authorized term for the offense committed. For a violation, the maximum term is ten days. This amount can be cumulative. For example, if a person refuses to pay the fines for ten violations, that person can be incarcerated for one hundred days (Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 534.060).
Now, I do realize that this is a PROPOSED version of the bill, and the fines have not been defined as misdemeanor or a higher form, but the law is there to put people who refuse (which means they are likely to face much the same penalties as fathers who refuse child support, or those who would be deemed as criminals) to pay health insurance premiums.
Even if the fines did not put people in prison, the state or federal statutes do provide for liens, garnishment, or other means that penalize the people.
If this law version goes through, then basically the federal government becomes a tool, a puppet, of the insurance industry. That same industry apparently has no qualms about cutting people down when they are already at the bottom rung in society. The insurance companies have put literally millions into lobbying for the federal demand that every person BUY private insurance, instead of putting those same millions into affordable health care clinics, cutting down on the profits payable to Wall Street investors, or even doing something as simple as donating those same millions to non-profit organizations overseas.
Nope, the insurance companies are trying very hard to turn the federal government into puppets, using the Senate Health and Finance Committee members.
So much for a compassionate, caring and decent society.
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