I want to add my voice to Keith Olbermann's pledge to refuse buying health care if a bill is passed with a mandate but no public option. Such a bill amounts to a massive tax raise that will go straight to the same corporations who fight against the interest of the Democratic party.
Though I lack the funds of the insurance industry, I've been a long time friend of the Democratic party; a super voter, an occasional political professional, former PIRG and Sierra Club employee and life-long activist. But I pledge to sit out the next election cycle and work against any Democrat who votes for such a bill.
The biggest problem with our Health Care system is the Insurance Industry. Any "fix" that centers on a massive give-away to this industry, making it politically more powerful and systemically intractable is a huge mistake.
I would be the first person to voluntarily pay higher taxes to help my neighbors receive good health care, but I reject the notion that I have a moral obligation to give my money to an industry that will use my money to fight my interests, make rich people richer and hire employees to figure out ways to deny coverage to the people I'm supposed to be helping.
When I give money to a non-profit to aid a cause, I want to know that my money will be spent well and not wasted on frills, lobbying and CEO pay. And I exercise my right as a constituent to make sure that my money is spent well. To say I'm morally obligated to give my money to these insurance corporations, with no guarantee that it will help anything and with no say in how it's spent, is ludicrous. Mandating that I do so is immoral.
Please join me in asking your senators to block vote on any bill that contains such a mandate without giving those of us who object morally a strong, ethical public option.
EDUCATION:
1, I'm unaware that the mechanism of enforcing the mandate is imprisonment. If you go around saying "well, this is like income tax, you don't have to buy insurance, you can go to teh jail," you're lying. Simple.
UPDATE: Some Kossacks are making the claim that there will be a mandatory prison sentence for those who don't purchase insurance. I can find nothing to verify this claim. From what I can find, there will be a fine under $2,000. If you can validate the claim of prison time, I'd like to see it.
UPDATE 2: According to a new diary on the rec list, the penalty will be 2%, insurance (since I'm young and have a low income) would probably be 8%. Guess which I'll choose? Hello bankruptcy!