I have been following this as close as a normal person should, and I think Howard Dean finally learned a lesson from Lieberman and decided to come out against the bill so they'd stop watering it down. Good on him.
As for me, I've finally come around. Abortion I don't care about, since it doesn't affect me, so I can't speak to that, except to ask who gave The Supreme Council of Boy-Fuckers veto power over our health care concerns? Why would anyone listen to those assholes?
As for the individual mandate, think about it...seriously, consider the fines and all, and what it will mean in practice. I'll give you my thinking on the matter below. It might work out better than you think.
Yes, I know, these mandates seem like a giveaway to the insurance industry, but let's really look at these mandates. If you don't buy insurance, the fine is 450 a year starting in 2014, going up to 750 a year in 2017.
Now the reason for this, they say, is because since they are mandating insurance companies insure everyone regardless of pre-existing condition, they want to stop people from just waiting til they're sick, then buying insurance. That's what the fine is for.
Considering further, that's a pretty cheap fine if you do exactly what they don't want you to do. That would be what they call gaming the system, something like sending your house keys to the bank when you're so far underwater you'll never get even, even when you still afford the payments.
Yeah, that's just irresponsible. Because for those jerks who game the system by waiting until they are sick, paying 500 dollars a year as a fine, and then sign up for insurance when they suddenly need it, they essentially get insurance for the cost of the fine.
So there are 3 groups for whom this bill will really be great. Self - employed, who will get a 30 percent tax credit for insurance premiums, pretty sweet, uninsured, who will get some subsidized insurance along the line, and those bastards who fully intend to game the system.
So in spite of this giant loophole, which fortunately very few people will exploit, as it is irresponsible, I do support this bill. Merry Christmas, and let's pass this bitch!
