There is no more pernicious aspect of the pending health care bills (Senate, House and Obama “proposal”) than the mandate.
The mandate is the provision which requires that individuals purchase private insurance.
From that mandate flows a host of governmental controls over our lives, from specification of which type of insurance is acceptable, to IRS enforcement of mandate penalties through employer and employee reporting, to possible imprisonment, to a host of bureaucracies and regulations meant to give details to the mandate, to taxes on employers, etc.
Without the mandate, Obamacare is just another runaway spending program destined to bankrupt the nation.
With the mandate, Obamacare is the means by which the government gains control over our lives.
There was a time when Obama was against a mandate. That was when he was running against Hillary Clinton, who supported mandates.
Health care was front and center during the primary (and general election), and one of the key distinctions Obama drew between his plan and Hillary’s plan was that Obama would not have a mandate:
“The reason she thinks that there are more people covered under her plan than mine, is because of a mandate. It is not a mandate for the government to provide coverage to everybody. It is a mandate that every individual purchase health care. And the mailing that we put out accurately indicates that the main difference between Senator Clinton’s plan and mine is the fact that she would force, in some fashion, individuals to purchase health care ….”
Obama’s complaint about a mandate during the campaign was not philosophical based on the constitutional concept of limited federal government.
Obama was against a mandate because it would leave people in a position that they chose to accept and pay government penalties rather than purchase unaffordable health coverage, creating the worst of all worlds. Which pretty much sums up Obamacare.
At so many levels, Obama has head-faked the American public.
Love her or hate her, at least we knew where Hillary stood.
Which is more than we can say for the most historic elected official pushing the worst piece of legislation “since the Great Depression.”
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Related Posts:
Taxing Your Mere Existence, Part 2
Taxing Your Mere Existence
IRS The New Health Care Enforcer
Get Rid of the Mandate
Hillary Had A Mandate For Mandates
Obama Was Against Compulsory Health Insurance, Before He Was For It
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