The Complexity problem
I'd like someone to finally answer this question.
I fully support a public option. I fully support overhaul of our horrid "health care" system. But I would like to know if there is or is not a "mandate" for the uninsured where they will be forced to buy health insurance or face fines.
I realize there is no final bill and all are different. But if this "health care reform" forces the uninsured to buy insurance (particularly, but not necessarily, from private companies), I want to know it.
I can not figure out this basic issue!!! Isn't this a problem? I know there are several bills up for debate so it seems nobody really knows what we're suppposed to be "fighting" for. Some of these bills are bad (imo) and some are good. Why should I put my time and energy on the line to fight for "health care reform" when i don't even know what I'm fighting for?
If any of these bills force the uninsured to buy insurance, whether from some private company or from a "public option", seems to me a secondary issue. If the government is going after the uninsured to extort "health care" payments, this is wrong. The "uninsured" are mostly poor people, or at least people who have very little money to spare. Sure, some (a small proportion of) uninsured are well off and can afford it easily, but just don't feel like paying for insurance. This latter group would surely be a tiny minority of the tens of millions of uninsured. So, is Obama proposing that we force the uninsured to buy insurance or not?
This is not a snark. I really can figure this out. I've tried. If he is, I think this plan is wrong. The uninsured are mostly poor people, or at least people who don't have much money to throw around. Are "progressives" really suggesting the govt should be going after this group for money to pay for these schemes? I can't see any progressive logic to this.
Maybe I've been misled, and the forced insurance is off the table. Fine. But I've tried and can't figure it out. If it is off the table I suppose the proposals are great (no 'pre-existing conditions, etc). But I hope all realize that I'm a politics geek and even I can't figure this stuff out. How the hell can Joe Six-Pack?
I hope some Kossacs can set me straight