Obamacare penalties to slam low-income Americans

**Posted by Phineas

"Obamacare has arrived"
“Obamacare has arrived”

Wait. I thought the whole point of this rolling fiasco was to make insurance Β affordable for the least among us. But, according to the Congressional Budget Office, roughly one million Americans will pay the fine tax whatever the heck Roberts decided it was. Via The Washington Free Beacon:

β€œAll told, CBO and [the Joint Committee on Taxation] JCT estimate that about four million people will pay a penalty because they are uninsured in 2016 (a figure that includes uninsured dependents who have the penalty paid on their behalf),” the report said. β€œAn estimated $4 billion will be collected from those who are uninsured in 2016, and, on average, an estimated $5 billion will be collected per year over the 2017–2024 period.”

A chart accompanying the report revealed that 200,000 of those paying the penalty earn less than 100 percent of the poverty line. An additional 800,000 are considered low-income, earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level.

The article then points out how Obama was originally against the individual mandate, because it would be unfair to the poor. During a 2008 debate with Hillary Clinton Lady Macbeth, he said:

β€œYou can have a situation, which we are seeing right now in the state of Massachusetts, where people are being fined for not having purchased health care, but choose to accept the fine because they still can’t afford it even with the subsidies,” he said. β€œThey are then worse off, they then have no health care and are paying a fine above and beyond that.”

Which is …erm… kind of what’s about to happen right now under your system, sir. Not to be picky, or anything.

Of course, this is one of those predictible outcomes, like Obamacare causingΒ increased use of emergency roomsΒ instead of decreased use, that critics on the right have been warning about for several years. When faced with two painful choices –buy insurance you can’t afford or pay a fine– the vast majority will choose the least painful option. This was how the system was designed.

It’s a pity the Democrats who wrote it and shoved it down the nation’s throat didn’t bother read and understand it before voting on it and causing so many poor people so much pain. A pity, but not my problem, because not a single Republican voted for this anti-constitutional monstrosity.

And we need to remind them of that in November.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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