The individual mandate penalty should be raised

[RB TexLa]

For 2016 it stands at $695 per adult and $347.50 per child, capped at $2,085.

This is far from a penalty. The fines should be more around the $10,000 per person with no cap. And since these people would rather pay the IRS than purchase health insurance let's let them. All medical bills they do not pay should be collected for the providers by the IRS with full collection powers.

[Mika]

1. Did you forget that sarcasm smilie? eom

[AgerolanAmerican]

2. Great idea

let's troll all the poor neighborhoods with armed IRS agents and shoot anyone who can't pony up your 10k figure, which would be everyone

[DisgustipatedinCA]

5. You're addressing a person with an irrational hatred of children on planes AND seat belts in cars.

I think he's letting us in on his fantasy life.

[So Far From Heaven]

3. Let's see if I have this correct

You propose to financially cripple someone who can't afford some mandated insurance company driven rip off? So, they can't afford the insurance and now they get no food or clothes or something else they need?

I don't favor this idea at all.

[Cresent City Kid]

11. I second that

I couldn't swing the insurance payment when I tried to get mine last year. The one insurance company that works on the exchange in my part of Texas makes sure to charge over and above the subsidy. If you don't have the difference in the open enrollment window, you get locked out like me and have a much needed tax refund turn into an even more unaffordable tax bill. Yeah make it $10,000 so I can switch from mac & cheese to grass out of the yard for half the year.

[nationalize the fed]

4. People should be allowed to sue those who run on one thing

and do the opposite when elected

Keith wouldn't like your idea

It's surreal- now Democrats are calling for exorbitant fines (wanna make people homeless?) for not purchasing corporate insurance, when no promised public option is available.

Did you forget when Obama's point man Baucus had single payer doctors and nurses arrested on Capitol Hill? Probably...Shove the mandate and the fines

[revbones]

6. The "penalty" is meant to incentivize participation and recoup

some money spent on costs such as uncovered care. I don't think it's mean to be punitive and definitely not in such a draconian way.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. Excuse me, sir

I almost got railroaded out of a chunk of my refund this year because while my company was pawning me off to a sub contractor, I was uninsured for two whole months. I didn't even know until I got my 1095 forms from both companies last month.

So kindly sir, I invite you to go have sexual relations with yourself.

[yodermon]

8. Take the penalty. Make it a premium. Give them health insurance. n/t

[Fumesucker]

9. Bring back debtor's prisons while you are at it

You will need lots of them.

[Quackers]

17. Let's take the kids too and force them to work in labor camps.

You know, just until the penalty is paid. It shouldn't take them too long considering how much Walmart pays for child labor.

[bigwillq]

10. No. (nt)

[Cresent City Kid]

12. When you have no money $695 is a huge penalty

Not all of "These People" would rather pay the IRS than for health insurance. Sometimes it is unaffordable with or without the subsidy. Even trying to save for it, I could not get it in the small open enrollment window. If I am required to buy something it should be for sale. I cannot control the fact that my work slows down at the very time of year I need plunk down hundreds of dollars I don't have.

Making the penalty half of my yearly salary will not generate the missing money.

[Skittles]

13. buy shitty private insurance or be fined

niiiiiiiiiiice

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Good gravy.

[Angleae]

15. How about we scrap the individual mandate instead?

[Alkene]

16. We should also eat puppies and kittens. n/t

[Yo_Mama]

18. You have it wrong, according to Healthcare.gov

https://www.healthcare.gov/fees/fee-for-not-being-covered/

The fee for not having health insurance in 2016

The fee is calculated 2 different ways – as a percentage of your household income, and per person. You’ll pay whichever is higher.
Percentage of income

2.5% of household income
Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace

Per person

$695 per adult
$347.50 per child under 18
Maximum: $2,085

And a lot of people not buying insurance are getting exempted from the penalty through one of the various provisions.

Also, there are due process issues. The penalty simply cannot be raised really high in unreasonable ways because it is a tax.

[NightWatcher]

19. Too poor to afford insurance, your governor is an asshole, here's a$10,000 debt you can never repay

and will ruin your life.

ACA wasn't a lifesaver for everyone, remember that.

[alarimer]

20. No way in hell. This is despicable.

I hate the mandate. We as a society need to be providing health care to all. Not demonizing those who make a rational economic decision (for them) not to purchase insurance.

[HereSince1628]

21. Because of the failure to expand medicaid, many people below poverty level

can't get assistance with insurance and can't qualify for other coverage.

You're suggesting that these people be punished more severely because the American political system made the ACA into a football.

You got coverage?

[KG]

22. still quite the clueless fuck.

[sofa king]

23. How about debtor's prison, too?

As a part-time seasonal no-benefit slave I made less than $10000 last year. Before I lost my place my rent took 60% of my income, my vehicle most of the rest. I did my grocery shopping at the dollar store, and skipped eating one day a week to afford the Internet and other "entertainment" like the art supplies (crayons and dollar-store paper) I use to try to supplement my income.

My next options were government assistance, homelessness, burdening friends and family, and/or crime, all of which I had to seriously consider. Insurance? Come on, man. Maybe I'll eat an insurance agent to save money on food, but aside from that the bear is back in the forest.

[ronnie624]

24. This reads like a wingnut parody.

Are you kidding around?