Guess who gets the dirty work...

[taxmandan]

"House Democrats are crafting a plan that would require all Americans to carry health insurance and would help families making less than $88,000 pay the premiums. Employers, too, would have to help foot the bill."

IF this is passed into law, you can bet this will end up on the 1040. Just like MA which has mandatory health insurance laws, and requires information on the state tax return to prove someone has coverage, the gomers in Congress will put this on the federal tax return. Just like EITC, stimulus rebates, advance child tax credits, and telephone tax rebates, we'll get to handle the details. Anyone else see this coming our way?

[Snaggletooth]

Certified Insurance

Wonder if they will require "every American" to show evidence of health-care coverage as a PRECONDITION to receiving Earned Income Credit?

Bet they don't...

[Bees Knees]

What will they do if you do not pay the mandatory insurance premiums?

Throw you in debtor's prison?

[David1980]

I remember when I worked at HRB there was an optional medical insurance for temp employees. Basically, you paid in $2000 over the year and the "insurance" had a maximum benefit of $2000. Kind of like a flexible spending plan except with copays and deductibles ... I didn't see the point.

I wonder if that kind of "insurance" will qualify for this should it pass congress. If not, perhaps this would be a great opportunity to get rid of "fake" insurance.

[erchess]

General Idea

1. They will use as yet unspecified means to twist the arms of insurance companies so that everyone can get coverage and as is the case with Long Term Care Insurance now rates are relatively low. From my perspective this general idea works very well with Auto Insurance in NC now. Rates are affordable and everyone can get coverage but high risk drivers (almost half of the total) are put in a "pool" that is run on a break even basis jointly by all the companies that offer auto insurance in our State under the watchful eye of our Commissioner of Insurance.

2. They will give each tax filer a choice between proving that everyone on the return is covered by Insurance and paying additional tax (or having a reduction in refund) that will at first be less than the cost of insurance for that individual or family given its income. Over time the cost of not being insured will be raised to and then past the cost of the insurance and more draconian measures my be tried if say a special tax of ten times the cost of insurance is not sufficient to get all minors and 99.99 percent of adults covered by policies that will indeed pay most of the medical costs of our society.

3. I do not intend to comment here on how I voted in the past or may vote in the future but if anyone who voted for the current President did not want him to bring in something like this then they must not have had health care high on their list of priorities or else they were not listening to him. There was a consensus among all the candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination that the government should make sure that everyone has good health care and that what people pay for their care should be determined primarily by their wealth and perhaps somewhat influenced by the amount of care they receive especially if they are perceived as not wanting to make medically helpful changes in their lifestyle. But the major emphasis was on everyone having the right to care.