This is a good one

[Berserker]

http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_088142746.html

St. Paul (AP) Two lawmakers backed a plan Tuesday that would require all Minnesotans to buy basic health insurance coverage starting in 2007.

The mandate is part of a health care overhaul proposed by the Minnesota Medical Association and supported by Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, I-Rochester, and Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka.

Under the MMA plan, everyone would pay the same premium for the most basic medical benefits because risk would be spread statewide, but individuals could pay more to upgrade, Kiscaden said. The state could require proof of insurance on tax returns or drivers license renewals, she said.

"We want everybody to have access to health care," said Dr. J. Michael Gonzalez-Campoy, president of the MMA, which represents about 10,000 Minnesota physicians. "Costs will be lower because we will have healthier people."

So this means if you can't afford health insurance and many people
can't they will take your drivers license away so you can't work.
Great fricken plan.

[firefox]

1. Just legislate those problems away just like NCLB n/t

[Mugweed]

2. Not quite the socialized medicine

Can I get PIP? Do I need to add $10,000 property damage in case my seizure results in the loss of some great ice sculptures at a fancy restaurant? Can I be ticketed for Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance?

DUHHHHH. So I guess everything else is going perfectly in Minnesota, huh? This is the big issue?

[katinmn]

3. perhaps they'll garnishee wages also.

This is a good one all right. :sarcasm:

[salin]

4. isn't that a form of a tax?

So - now family.... pay $900 a month for basic coverage... if you want to be able to drive legally. Okay so you only have two adults working near minimum wage so you only have about $2,000 a month - BEFORE TAXES to live on... now half of that will be required to go to health insurance (since your jobs are not likely to include benefits)... while the lawyer across town who makes a lot of money - AND has benefits through work - has to pay zero new money for the benefit of having healthier people in Minnesota.

Yikes- what are they thinking?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Yeah, and I can solve the problem of homelessness, too!

Let's pass a law that requires everyone to buy a house.

See? What was so hard about that? :-)

[Viking12]

8. You are a problem solver.

Great Work :)

[dflprincess]

6. Could they be more out of touch with reality?

And just what does your drivers license have to do with health insurance?

If you have to add proof of insurance to your tax return, do you also get to deduct the cost of that insurance?

Up until now, I've just been hostile now I am really starting to hate these people.

[Deja Q]

7. I'd laugh in hysterics if I wasn't outraged by their deranged thinking.

[dflprincess]

9. Does anyone know of a link

where we can check the campagin contributions of these two yahoos and see how much money they've taken from insurance companies?

[no name no slogan]

10. Before Pawlenty, we HAD near-universal coverage

....at least, as near to universal as you can get with an entirely voluntary, buy-in type insurance system.

We had the highest number of insured in the nation (even more than Howard Dean's VT, btw) in the 1990s, with MinnesotaCare and General Assistance Medical Coverage (GAMC). Our rate was around 96%, which is pretty high for a non-compulsory system. Additionally, MNCare was basically self-funding, with costs covered by a 1-2% tax on healthcare services and premium payments from MNCare insureds.

Unfortunately, Pawlenty and his GOP brethren want to INCREASE eligibility requirements for MNCare so that they no longer qualify, and push those folks into GAMC-- which is NOT self-funding, and costs MORE per patient to run and administer.

If the GOP wants this plan (or any other compulsory coverage plan) to work, they need to open up eligibility requirements for MNCare, AND make sure that the working poor earn enough $$$ to cover their monthly med. insurance premium.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, IMHO.