Payback

One of the things about this health care bill that’s most offensive to liberty minded folks is the idea the government can tell an individual they must purchase a good or service or face a penalty; a penalty that includes fines and jail time.

This article in the NY Daily News points out the impact of the mandatory insurance provisions.

A desire to redistribute income is the only thing that can explain a policy of forcing young adults to pay above-market premiums for health insurance. Gruber estimates that one bill before Congress would charge young adults at least 62% more than those low-cost California plans, even if they qualify for government subsidies. Young adults could end up paying hundreds or thousands of dollars more, many of them for a product they didn’t want in the first place.

That would be a curious way for the President to repay some of his biggest supporters.

Given the remarkable blind support (see my irony post for an example of people not understanding they are getting what they asked for), I’m not sure they are smart enough to figure out they are getting screwed. (I’m also not sure it’s all the President’s doing, although there’s every indication he would sign the house version of this legislation)

But if they do…