Health Insurance Reform Mythbuster: ‘Reform Could Mean Jail Time’

[ProSense]

Health Insurance Reform Mythbuster: ‘Reform Could Mean Jail Time’

As debate continues on the House floor, House Republicans are pulling out all the stops to scare the American public about the Affordable Health Care for America Act, including speeches today saying that Americans who don’t buy health insurance could face jail time. Here are the facts.

MYTH: “Reform Could Mean Jail Time for Americans Who Don’t Buy Insurance”

FACT: Right now, every insured American family will pay $1,017 a year in insurance premiums just to cover the medical expenses of the uninsured. That’s $42.7 billion this year - or $1,354 per second. Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, Americans are responsible for purchasing health insurance coverage, and most employers will be responsible for offering coverage–individuals, employers, and the government are all responsible for contributing to the cost of coverage. This shared responsibility provision, for those who don’t already have insurance, requires Americans to either purchase affordable health insurance or pay a fee of 2.5% of their income so they are not driving up everyone else’s health costs.

Under the bill, the only people who would face the fee for not purchasing insurance are those who can truly afford to purchase such insurance.

For those who can afford insurance but for some reason do not purchase it, they simply pay the fee – a fee designed to cover their costs when they use the health care system. For a small number of people who might refuse to pay the fee, it is important to remember that, in the majority of cases, the IRS – which will enforce the insurance requirement – uses the CIVIL process to settle delinquent penalties and taxes.

It would only be in extremely rare circumstances that criminal prosecutions of any kind would be pursued:

In 2008, there were 156 million individual tax returns filed in the United States. Out of all of those 156 million returns, there were only 100 criminal prosecutions for willful failure to pay taxes – and only for the most egregious examples of those who willfully defraud the system.

Of course, true access to quality health care cannot happen if coverage is unaffordable. The bill will ensure accessible health coverage for all Americans by providing affordability credits and expanding Medicaid for those below 150 percent of poverty. The bill is designed to ensure that the shared responsibility requirement is never imposed on those who cannot afford to purchase health insurance. Some of the key affordability provisions:

Under our bill, there are generous affordability credits to help people purchase health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange – with the credits on a sliding scale according to someone’s income.

There is a hardship exemption for those who cannot afford insurance even with affordability credits.

The lowest-income Americans qualify for Medicaid.

[ixion]

1. so working people no longer have a choice...

gee, that's some democracy. :eyes:

[spooky3]

4. did you read the post? They can't externalize their costs onto everyone else

but there are clear provisions made for those who truly can't afford care.

[ixion]

6. externalize their costs onto everyone else...

and that's good because?

I don't want to force others to pay my costs, neither do I want to be forced to pay for the costs of others.

Dumping the costs onto taxpayers and leaving BigMed in tact is not reform. It is more highway robbery.

[spooky3]

22. I think you misunderstood my post just as you may have misunderstood the OP.

If you re-read my post, you'll see nothing to indicate that allowing people who can afford to pay but refuse to do so to externalize their costs is a good thing; the bill is attempting to this practice.

And you'll get no argument from me that more reform of Big Med/Big Pharma is needed. This bill nibbles at the edges and fundamental change is still needed.

[Waiting For Everyman]

14. Externalizing costs is a myth too - medical collectors go after everybody

indigent or not. The hospitals PROMISE they won't go after the poor, but they do anyway. They file liens, foreclose, garnish wages, seize bank accounts, the whole nine yards. Nobody gets treated and walks away without a bill.

My daughter is still paying on a $1,000 bill for a hugely swelled ankle she was treated for last year without insurance. She makes $1500 per month as a writer. College educated with huge student loans too.

The medical industry doesn't write off a damn thing. Talk about myths. That's another huge myth.

Besides, isn't the concept of insurance NOT paying for your own bill? Isn't that why we have insurance in the first place? The whole idea is to not pay the whole cost of treatment, but to have it spread over a pool, including those who didn't need treatment at all. So getting huffy about paying for others' treatment is absurd.

Criminalizing people is absurd too. The current system of collection torture is enough penalty for noncompliance. And by the way, how many insurance CEOs were jailed for killing 40,000 people each year? No, the jail is always for the public but the killers get millions in bonuses. THAT's what I don't want to pay for. But nothing was done about that, was it?

Dennis K. was right to vote against this. The Dems are committing suicide here. Forget 2010, forget 2012. I won't vote for them either if they do this.

They should've just enrolled the working poor, and those with pre-existing conditions, right onto Medicare, while making the INSURANCE COMPANIES pay for it, for excluding them. And now, our employers will still be saddled with these costs which make us uncompetitive globally.

EPIC FAIL! And no excuse for it either except lack of will in Congress to do the right thing. As always.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. That's true. They no longer have the choice to force me to pick up the tab.

At risk of understatement, I'm okay with that.

[ixion]

26. LOL

you don't think you're going to be picking up a tab? I got news for you. That tab you're picking up just tripled because of this piece of trash.

[many a good man]

21. So you agree that this is a "freedom killin'" bill?

49.4% of Congress agrees with you! I guess you're in good company. :sarcasm:

[ixion]

25. any mandate is freedom killing... no matter what party is doing it

I didn't like it when rethugs did it, and I certainly don't like it when dems do it.

The difference is that I make note of it when either party does it.

[spooky3]

2. Rethuggies never let facts or ethics get in the way of a good lie.

[Roland99]

3. Except it's NOT a "fee". It's a "tax"! Go ahead and not pay that tax.

Don't call us asking for bail money.

[closeupready]

5. Myth: Jail time for failure to pay is a myth.

Fact. :crazy:

[optimator]

7. so people will go to jail

absolutely disgusting

[closeupready]

10. And it IS scary, and stating this fact is NOT a scare tactic, it's stating a fact.

n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. That's right! It ABSOLUTELY IS DISGUSTING!

:puke:

[rug]

8. "Reform Could Mean Jail Time."

"It would only be in extremely rare circumstances that criminal prosecutions of any kind would be pursued."

How is that a myth?

Not to mention the escalating IRS harassment that will precede it.

[ProSense]

11. Because that applies to criminal prosecution of major tax cheats: 100 in 156 million. The fact is

this:

...in the majority of cases, the IRS – which will enforce the insurance requirement – uses the CIVIL process to settle delinquent penalties and taxes.

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. People want universal insurance, but without the universal part

:eyes:

[rug]

24. And the leverage in a civil prosecution is the threat of a criminal prosecution.

A threat this bill codifies.

[Autumn]

12. Dealing with the IRS

is a fucking nightmare. I speak with experience. Especially when it is their mistake, they do get even.

[Roland99]

13. And tax levies, wage garnishments, credit history ruined, etc.

[Waiting For Everyman]

16. And it'll be one more thing that bankruptcy won't clear

like student loans are already. The vultures are trying to make sure that nobody can ever start over, or recover economically.

[pinto]

15. Seems one key here is what will constitute 'hardship exemptions' and

'affordability credits'. I assume that will be determined in the joint committee. :shrug:

:kick:

[ProSense]

17. You know the what makes the jail claim even more bogus:

People are fighting the bill because it only covers 96 percent of the population while pushing this BS jail claim. How many people are deciding to remain uninsured by choice? Everyone who has insurance wants it and want the cost brought down. Those who don't have want it at an affordable rate. There is no group fighting reform because they don't want coverage.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

20. Here is A Hidden Gem

"For a small number of people who might refuse to pay the fee, it is important to remember that, in the majority of cases, the IRS – which will enforce the insurance requirement – uses the CIVIL process to settle delinquent penalties and taxes."

Uhuh. And what does THAT look like, exactly?

This isn't fact, it's persuasion.

[noamnety]

23. I would also like to know what that is.

In civil proceedings around here like a small claims case where a person doesn't pay a judgment (a noncriminal case), the "civil" punishment is that their credit rating is affected to the point where they can't rent an apartment or can't get a car, and the person the money is owed to is allowed to put in a discovery claim to find their assets and direct the local sheriff to seize their belongings and sell them at auction (generally for much less than they are worth).

I know this because I took a person to small claims court and they didn't pay the judgment. A year later he came crawling back to me with a money order in hand because he had gotten divorced and COULDN'T get a place to live with the outstanding debt.

On the one hand, he was total scum and I don't feel bad for him personally. On the other, it's pretty scary that as a private individual I can force someone into homelessness over a thousand dollars. If he hadn't been divorced but had been foreclosed on due to poverty, his entire family including several kids would have been homeless. It could have affected his ability to get a job if he was unemployed, as so many employers are running credit checks.

(But not to worry, I'm sure the IRS doesn't wield as much power as me, right?)

[happy2bhere]

27. I don't agree with this fact

"every insured American family will pay $1,017 a year in insurance premiums just to cover the medical expenses of the uninsured."


Where are poor people going to get free health care that the insured people are paying for?

When a poor person goes to the hospital, they get jacked with the cost, it ain't free.