How is the Obama/Baucus insurance mandate proposal not a government-approved protection racket?

[brentspeak]

A protection racket for the sake of the insurance scammers like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna, etc.?

1) Pay (if you can) for a private insurance policy, and the federal government won't assess you a $900-$1,500 excise tax.

or

2) FAIL to pay for a private insurance policy, and the federal government WILL assess you a $900-$1,500 excise tax.

[endarkenment]

1. The Baucus bill unamended is crap.

I wasn't aware that Obama was still in the Senate. Isn't that unconstitutional?

[brentspeak]

7. Obama is pushing for a mandate and a penalty

It might not be the exact same penalty as Baucus is proposing, but it is a penalty. He said as much on Stephanopoulos when he insisted that penalty for not buying a private plan shouldn't be called a "tax".

[polichick]

2. Well, the Baucus insurance mandate does look like that...

...but we don't know if Obama would sign it.

[Baltoman991]

3. Ah yes

the same bullshit from the other night only with a different thread title.

You damn well know it's not Obamas bill so why the fuck don't you just cut the shit out or are you really a fucking child needing attention.

And to the poster saying we don't know if Obama would sign it or not, I say no, he wouldn't as is.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Don't feed the trolls

[Baltoman991]

8. You're right.

I'll try to ignore it from now on.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Thrill]

6. Why are you spending so much time worrying about the Baucus bill?

Its no more important than the HELP bill.

[ljm2002]

9. Well, see, here's how it works:

When the Mob does it, it's a protection racket. When the government does it, it's a "mandate".

Just as when the Mob runs numbers, it's a numbers racket. When the sate does it, it's a lottery.

Does that help to clarify?

[TheKentuckian]

10. As is the bill is pig vomit.

I think the process should play out for now though. It can be amended into something workable. Tying an individual mandate to an employer based plan without price controls is DOA but blowing the process up prior to getting that as the final solution isn't working the system.