Obama is proposing fines of up to $3800 for not having health insurance. Do you agree with that?

I think it's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. People want health care, they want to be able to see a doctor when they or their children are sick. There's just one tiny little problem, THEY CAN"T AFFORD IT!! If they can't afford health care, what the hell makes you think they can pay the fines! Just another prime example of what a genius our president is! Does everyone like his so called change now?

I think that it is better we wait on these questions until their is actually a bill to debate.Yeah their are a few in the house and a few in the senate but not 1 has been said this is the one.Now to answer the question the way it is suggested I feel it would be illegal for them to do this.At this point if a person chooses not to get coverage than it is their choice we should not tell them what they have to do when it is their own life they risk.If the president wants health care so bad I question why he doesn't create a bill himself-It would be alot easier to say this is what I want when he puts it in words in an actual bill-instead of this is what I want you figure it out.However if you read out constitution all bills must start in the house so its my belief that the senate bill and a proposed bill from Obama would be a clear violation of our constitution

Um...you need to read a bit better - this is a proposal by Max Baucus as an alternative to mandatory government funded coverage. Under a single payer plan, you probably would have ended up paying just about the same amount, the costs just would have been more hidden in tax increases or lower wages (remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch). And third, as part of the program, you would be given a tax credit if you signed up for health insurance instead of paying the fine. Not to worry, the proposal won't pass anyway.

After all the talk of health care reform, this seems like a bait and switch.

We won't wind up with better health care or lower health care costs. The 16.6% of GDP we spend on health care will keep on rising, and health insurance companies will have a windfall from premiums they wouldn't otherwise collect from people who really don't want their insurance and don't use it.

I hope people refuse to buy that insurance and join in a taxpayers revolt to refuse to pay any fines for not buying it.

Well, this is what everyone wanted.. Obama is going to bring change.. yeah, not the change you want. Things are just going to get worse. It makes a lot of sense to make ppl pay fines when they can't afford health insurance in the first place. Its not that we don't want insurance, we just simply can't afford it. Most ppl are having a hard time putting food on the table for their families. We obviously have morons running the country.

They already do this in Massachusetts. Now, every year at tax time, I have to include proof of insurance or else I get fined. I do not think it is very fair, especially where it defeats the purpose of affordable health care. I have yet to hear of affordable health plans for those who are unemployed or underemployed. My next door neighbor has been unemployed for over a year. He just got a job and they fired him before he was eligible for health insurance. How is a person supposed to get health insurance when this happens?

NO,and then wouldn't it be less expensive for an employer to pay the fine rather than pay the health insurance premium.Then leaving how many more people uninsured This whole thing is just absurd

You're totally missing the point. As it stands now, if you have no insurance, you can't be turned down by a hospital ER. That costs a fortune to the TAXPAYERS.

Conservatives, you can't have it both ways. This plan would ensure that everyone is paying into the system somehow. Secondly, it means that you're *identified* -- if you're paying into the public option, then you get some ID to prove it. Illegals *can'* pay into the public option. No card, no care. End of story.

If you can't afford like $30 a month as a low incomer in extra taxes for health care, lol, you'd rather pay nothing and cost the government (i.e. everyone else) a fortune to take care of you when you go to the ER?

If these people can't pay for health care insurance how are they going to pay the fine? That is like shooting a person that is threatening suicide. But as usual the taxpayers will be forced to step in and pay for this persons insurance. We wouldn't be good socialists if we didn't.

From the article:

"Just as auto coverage is now mandatory, so would a requirement that all Americans get health insurance. Penalties for failing to get insurance would start at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level — about $66,000 for a family of four — would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950."

I don't care who is proposing it; that's just freaking scary...