Robert Bennett’s Healthy Americans Act would impose fines for not buying a health insurance policy, but the plan did not specify a penalty amount.
The Associated Press reported on September 9th Democrat Max Baucus has come out with a similar plan, but the Baucus plan specifically states what penalties may be imposed for failing to purchase insurance:
Just as auto coverage is now mandatory in nearly all states, Baucus would require that all Americans get health insurance once the system is overhauled to make premiums more stable and affordable. Penalties for failing to do so would start at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level — about $66,000 for a family of four — would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950.
The Baucus plan would require insurers to take all applicants, regardless of age or health. But smokers could be charged higher premiums. And 60-year-olds could be charged five times as much for a policy as 20-year-olds.
According to an OpenSecrets.org report from January 23, 2009 campaign contributions may offer insight as to where Baucus is getting his inspiration from:
Campaigns Donors: Despite having no serious opponent in the 2008 election cycle, Baucus raised $11.6 million for his campaign, nearly twice the amount ($6.7 million) he raised for his previous re-election bid in which he faced a challenger with some real financial clout. Most of Baucus’s top 10 contributors have remained the same since the 2002 election–predominantly health and finance-related industries–but nearly all ramped up their contributions this cycle . . .
Richard Dawkins is concerned because the British health care system is paying for placebo treatments using tax payer dollars. The treatment is called Homeopathy, which consist of giving a patient water as a medication and spending a lot of time talking to him.
Many patients swear by this treatment, but perhaps it’s the human interaction for a lonely person that’s actually the cure.
Despite the British health care system’s coverage of such treatments, their annual health care cost per person is still lower than the United Sates. Time recently reported the average annual health care cost per capita in Brittan is $3,361 while in the United States the cost is $7,026.
Bill Moyers Journal reported the average US cost for health care was $6,567 in 2006.
On July 10, 2009 Wendell Potter made an appearance on the PBS program Bill Moyers Journal. Potter was head of CIGNA’s Corporate Communications department — a position he attained during his 15 year career at CIGNA. In the interview Wendell Potter states he resigned after his conscience got the best of him.
One of the books I read as I was trying to make up my mind here was President Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage.”
And in the forward, Robert Kennedy said that one of the president’s, one of his favorite quotes was a Dante quote that, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, maintain a neutrality.” And when I read that, I said, “Oh, jeez, I– you know. I’m headed for that hottest place in hell, unless I say something.”
At the end of the show Bill Moyers and Wendell Potter discuss the future goals for the health insurance industry and lobby.
BILL MOYERS: For the government to require every one of us to have some policy.
WENDELL POTTER: Exactly. And that sounds great. It is an important thing that everyone be enrolled in some kind of a benefit plan. They e { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>[the health insurance companies] don’t want a public plan. They want all the uninsured to have to be enrolled in a private insurance plan. They want– they see those 50 million people as potentially 50 million new customers. So they’re in favor of that. They see this as a way to essentially lock them into the system, and ensure their profitability in the future. The strategy is as it was in 1993 and ‘94, to conduct this charm offensive on the surface. But behind the scenes, to use front groups and third-party advocates and ideological allies. And those on Capitol Hill who are aligned with them, philosophically, to do the dirty work.
That’s what Robert Bennett’s Healthy Americans Act will do — require every person in the United States to enroll in a corporate health insurance plan.
Robert Bennett’s Healthy Americans Act would impose fines for not buying a health insurance policy, but the plan did not specify a penalty amount.
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