Monday, June 27, 2005
Running for President, or Just on Crack: You Decide
I saw this almost a week ago, and just now got a chance to post it:
Massachusetts residents who choose not to obtain health insurance would face tax penalties and even the garnishing of their wages under a proposal Governor Mitt Romney unveiled yesterday.
If you incur medical costs you can’t pay because you’re uninsured, Romney has a deal for you:
Currently, people without health insurance often go to hospitals and receive care they never pay for, because the hospital and the state pick up the tab. Under Romney’s proposal, uninsured Massachusetts residents would be asked to enroll in a plan when they seek care.
If they refuse, the state could recoup the medical costs in several ways, Romney said yesterday: The state might cancel the personal tax exemption on their state income taxes, which is worth about $175. It could withhold some or all of their state income tax refund and deposit it in what Romney called a ‘’personal healthcare spending account.” Or, it might take money out of the person’s paycheck, as it does now to collect child support.
Why?
Although Romney began rolling out his healthcare proposals last fall, he has never before called for an individual mandate. In a telephone interview with the Globe after yesterday’s speech, he said he decided to include the requirement after concluding that his other proposals could make private insurance affordable for everyone. (Emphasis mine.)
Uh, huh. But that isn’t even the funniest bit. This is:
‘’It’s the ultimate conservative idea, which is that people have responsibility for their own care, and they don’t look to government to take of them if they can afford to take care of themselves,” Romney told reporters after his speech.
Oh, yes, it’s terribly conservative to create elaborate schemes to subsidize your madness your Presidential bid insurance so you can claim that you’ve made it affordable for everyone. And it’s terribly conservative to mandate that people buy it since you know so well what people can and can’t afford. Because, you know, Mitt’s looked at your checkbook and he knows you’re holding out on him. See?
‘’No more ‘free riding,’ if you will, where an individual says: ‘I’m not going to pay, even though I can afford it. I’m not going to get insurance, even though I can afford it. I’m instead going to just show up and make the taxpayers pay for me,’ “ Romney told reporters after a healthcare speech at the John F. Kennedy Library.
Because that happens so often. Because most people go buy a Mercedes instead of health insurance. Because everyone relishes being chased by bill collectors. Because if you’re uninsured, you’re uninsured because you just don’t think you ought to have to pay for things. Because...oh, never mind.
The sad part is, he’s what passes for a Republican around here. It’s like the worst of both worlds. Sigh.
Via Libertyblog, where they’re also unimpressed.