Surprise! Obamacare tax to hit 6 million Americans

As bobrek said, it doesn't matter if one justice called it a tax or if all nine justices called it a tax. It was only held constitutional under Congress' power to tax. Therefore it is a tax.

 

I have a friend who's a staunch conservative. He, his wife, and his four kids have no insurance and he likes it that way. He was happy to get discounted services when he needed them because he had no insurance. He refused my advice to look into CHIP for his kids. He hates Obamacare and planned on just paying the penalty rather than purchasing insurance.

2 weeks ago they found his youngest son, only 7 weeks old, not breathing. They rushed him to the hospital where he was revived. There was brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Luckily, the infant has progressed enough to where he was allowed to go home yesterday though he'll still need more work with an occupational therapist to relearn some things. He's learned to to suck on a bottle but has forgotten how to nurse. They'll have to wait and see if there's any long term damage.

My friend doesn't make a lot of money. He works on commission and his wife is a full time mother. They're never going to pay off the medical bills from this. I haven't been able to talk to him much since the incident but I get the feeling that he wishes he had insurance right now. At least now, any further complications from this incident won't keep his son from getting insurance coverage in the future.

 

Oh man, that's horrible.

 

Oh I know, Romneycare is really where it's at, right?

 

This.... I think that you and I are on the same wave length...

The fact is that ObamaCare has to be only a FIRST step. If anyone thinks the plan as passed will solve or help the problems are in for a shock. The legislation is so compromised and gutted that the importance of it is that it finally broke through.....

 

Those of you arguing over whether or not it is a tax in pure legal terms and taking clearly defined sides clearly did not read the actual ruling throughly.

In fact, Roberts both argued that it a tax and that it was "not a tax" when proposed by Congress (as Congress did not intend it to be a tax). Otherwise, SCOTUS could have never ruled on Obamacare in the first place due to the Tax Anti-Injuction Act.

 

That's unfortunate but in Debate and Discussion - reality doesn't matter. There is no discussion in here - just the worst in people.

We need the D&D crew to do a get together somewhere in the downtown area after work and see how different the "debating" would be.

 

The Supreme Court, in its 5-4 ruling, upheld the mandate that most Americans get health insurance. The majority said Congress has the power to enforce the mandate under its taxing authority. The decision labeled the penalties a tax, noting that they will be collected by the IRS.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indus...RS-to-tackle-health-care-and-taxes/56108848/1

 

Thank you.

Instead of gutting Obamacare, Republicans should move on and improve it.

"Society of makers and moochers" will persist long after Romney if they don't own up to proposing affordable and universal healthcare for everyone rather than the status quo of letting people die in ditches and ERs.

 

I don't think semantics really matter, but the USSC actually didn't say it was a tax. It said the government had the authority to do it under it's taxing power. Similarly, the government can give you an education deduction under it's taxing power - but I don't think anyone would call an education tax break a tax. The government does a lot of things under its taxing power that aren't considered a tax.

That said, this article is sort of incomplete. It says 6 million people will be hit by the fine - but many of those same 6 million people will also get a partial or full subsidy to purchase their insurance, eliminating the fine. So I'm not sure if it's saying 6 million people will be potentially hit, or if it believes that 6 million are the number of people that will choose not to be insured even with the subsidy.

Also of note is the Massachusetts experience, where basically everyone picked insurance over the fine, even when it was only a miniscule fine. It pretty much demonstrated that virtually everyone, when given the ability to purchase insurance, tends to do it.

 

Wait! I thought the right was saying we have too many freeloaders paying no income tax. Well, without raising taxes for everybody ...this is a perfect way to collect money from all those victim scumbags.

Bigtexxx, I thought you'd be jumping for joy about this news.

It's the freeloaders that should be worried. If you are a hardworking productive citizen, this is great news to get all those worthless Obama voters off the teet.

 

Is auto insurance a tax too?

 

The hardest hit by this will be people in states that do not enact the medicare expansion.

 

No...the outcome of the ruling was that the penalty was constitutional.

There was never a ruling as to whether it's a tax or not. It just so happens that 1 justice out of 9 ruled the penalty constitutional because he thought it was within Congress' power to tax.

 

So 294 million Americans have health care and 6 million pay a tax? Sounds good.

 

No, but I think you really meant to ask:

Is the fine for not having auto insurance a tax?

The answer is no, but this is a pretty pointless argument. Who cares if it is a "penalty" or a "tax"?

 

Every person in the USA has access to healthcare.

 

Riiiight, anyone can walk into an emergency room. Good catch. Every person can go bankrupt paying for their health care if they want to also. Freedom is so cool!

 

You should give them a fake name next time.

 

Fortunately I have health insurance but I bet that's what cancer patients do when they don't have insurance. Probably works like a charm.