Take our health insurance or be fined at tax time!

[Chancellor]

The socialists in Massachusetts have finally gone over the cliff - a new health insurance plan that mandates participation! Here's the story:

Mass. cooks up health care experiment - Gut_Check - MSNBC.com

[SleepingOwl]

I understand that they are only trying to "help." I agree however and this is a nasty step towards socialism. Besides even Marx new what happens with good intentions. (the road to hell is paved with them..)

[Chancellor]

I understand that they are only trying to "help." I agree however and this is a nasty step towards socialism. Besides even Marx new what happens with good intentions. (the road to hell is paved with them..)

While I'm opposed to government social programs as a matter of principle, what makes this particularly offensive is that the government of Massachusetts is making participation mandatory - it's much like the various states that mandate having car insurance if you own a car.

[Autolykos]

Note to self: Do not move to Massachussetts while this program is in effect.

- Rob

[SleepingOwl]

Requiring people to have car insurance is different though. If you are responsible for injuring several people in a car accident, and are unable to pay for it, they suffer. Without medical insurance, the person without it is usually the only one that suffers.

[Chancellor]

Note to self: Do not move to Massachussetts while this program is in effect.

- Rob

Being in New York State with a leftist governor, I'm hoping they don't try to bring that kind of program here.

[Chancellor]

Requiring people to have car insurance is different though. If you are responsible for injuring several people in a car accident, and are unable to pay for it, they suffer. Without medical insurance, the person without it is usually the only one that suffers.

Requiring people to have any kind of insurance is extortion! If I drive a car then I accept the risks to self and others and if I cause an accident I should expect to bear the costs of it. Now, if I choose to have insurance, I should be free to do so; but if not, that should be my right as well. Now, the state of Massachussets is telling its citizens they must enroll in this government-run healthcare program and that they'll be fined at tax time if they don't? How long before neighboring states (like New York) get this idea in their heads that they can force people to have health insurance?

[SleepingOwl]

Requiring people to have any kind of insurance is extortion! If I drive a car then I accept the risks to self and others and if I cause an accident I should expect to bear the costs of it. Now, if I choose to have insurance, I should be free to do so; but if not, that should be my right as well. Now, the state of Massachussets is telling its citizens they must enroll in this government-run healthcare program and that they'll be fined at tax time if they don't? How long before neighboring states (like New York) get this idea in their heads that they can force people to have health insurance?

You can say that about anything that makes you "pay" your money. Taxes, insurance, fines, etc...

[Objectivist]

I'm surprised more people aren't in an uproar over this. I find it interesting that the members of Volconvo that usually support this type of thing aren't saying anything about it.

[Chancellor]

I'm surprised more people aren't in an uproar over this. I find it interesting that the members of Volconvo that usually support this type of thing aren't saying anything about it.

I'm surprised too.



And why aren't you people out there in Montana having that Baucus character who is representing Montana tarred and feathered for proposing a 20,000 percent tax increase on cigars?????

[Gods_Mercenary]

Note to self: Do not move to Massachussetts while this program is in effect.

- Rob

Bastards, I hate the self satisfied, liberal lifelong dems in this state, you'd think that hoping for a little change with the Republicans is a crime. Plus, now that Deval (Deval Patrick, dem governor and successor to Romney) is in power, there's absolutely no limit to the democratic excess. It's practically a one party system, and dems have no problem with going back on campaign promises because they know a republican will likely never challenge them. I don't like what Patrick did with the gay marriage ammendment issue, the Supreme Court, which allowed gay marriage in the first place, told him and the legislature that they had to allow the issue through to the constitutional convention by law, and Deval still attempted to get it stopped. It really steams me when politicians don't even pretend to care about the laws they swear to uphold.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I'm surprised more people aren't in an uproar over this. I find it interesting that the members of Volconvo that usually support this type of thing aren't saying anything about it.

Few of them live in MA, and for those who do, we've gotten used to politicians not really caring what we think.

[Osborn F Enready]

I am not suprised this is happening in MA, and thats one of many reasons I don't, and wouldn't live there.

[Gods_Mercenary]

It's bad, I pay a lot of taxes, but I'm close to my family, but I think I will eventually move a little south to CT.

[Osborn F Enready]

Good luck Merc, check out New Hampshire and Montana if you value individual rights, and seek living around like minds.

[Gods_Mercenary]

Trouble with N.H. is that my entire family lives in southern MA, and I get to see them rarely as it is, even though I live near them. I do love the mountain regions of N.H., used to go there as a kid. I'd like some land in Montana, but that'd have to wait till retirment.

[Chancellor]

Good luck Merc, check out New Hampshire and Montana if you value individual rights, and seek living around like minds.

But it was Baucus from Montana that proposed the 20,000 percent tax increase on cigars.

[Gods_Mercenary]

That's child's play compared to MA politicians, every one of them would likely support that bill, except the ones with stock in cigars, that is.

[Bob652]

I understand that they are only trying to "help." I agree however and this is a nasty step towards socialism. Besides even Marx new what happens with good intentions. (the road to hell is paved with them..)

This is a very good point. Medical coverage is a devastating problem for millions of Americans; but so are the frightening claws of socialism. History shows us that government must be put on a short leash rather than empowered to meddle excessively into the private lives and pockets of citizens. This is way the American founding fathers gave us the second amendment and the system of checks and balances. They rightfully feared abuse by our own government more than they feared foreign invasion.
Yes, we need to somehow find a solution; but we don't need to achieve it by creating a collectivist octopus that promises the "security" of more government agencies at the expense of our natural rights to liberty and the fruit of our labor.
Perhaps if so much of our hard earned money weren't being confiscated by excessive taxation to be pissed away in ventures and "giveaways" both domestically and all over the world, our own citizens would be able to afford health insurance and not have to choose between food or medicine.

[Chancellor]

This is a very good point. Medical coverage is a devastating problem for millions of Americans

This presumes that health insurance coverage is a right or entitlement. I guess people confuse it with automobile insurance, which states force you to purchase.

; but so are the frightening claws of socialism. History shows us that government must be put on a short leash rather than empowered to meddle excessively into the private lives and pockets of citizens. This is way the American founding fathers gave us the second amendment and the system of checks and balances. They rightfully feared abuse by our own government more than they feared foreign invasion.

What's at stake here is the very survival of America as a free constitutional republic.

Yes, we need to somehow find a solution; but we don't need to achieve it by creating a collectivist octopus that promises the "security" of more government agencies at the expense of our natural rights to liberty and the fruit of our labor.

Why does the health insurance "issue" have to be resolved?

Perhaps if so much of our hard earned money weren't being confiscated by excessive taxation to be pissed away in ventures and "giveaways" both domestically and all over the world, our own citizens would be able to afford health insurance and not have to choose between food or medicine.

Now there's a novel idea - let people have enough of their own money so that they can afford to buy their own health insurance!