"During an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Jake Tapper today, President Obama said that penalties are appropriate for people who try to “free ride” the health care system but stopped short of endorsing the threat of jail time for those who refuse to pay a fine for not having insurance.
“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it's affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there's a thousand dollar hidden tax that families all across America are -- are burdened by because of the fact that people don't have health insurance, you know, there's nothing wrong with a penalty.”From Sunlen Miller's article "Interview with the President" ABC News.
My Perspective:
President Obama seems to think that free riders are a problem now. He casts subsidizing others as a bad thing, but only when it's done outside of the government's purview. Obama has no problem with "spreading the wealth around," or taxing the rich to give to the poor. He has stated his support for this time and time again. Yet, he claims that if you don't buy health insurance and get sick, then you are being subsidized by everyone else. How is that any different than the rest of us subsidizing any government program? Heck, the healthcare bill is full of subsidization and taxes meant to take from some and give to others. The only real differences are that with the government healthcare bill, government gets to decide who gets what and how much, and government also gets to take credit for providing these subsidies. This gives the government an instant voting base. As I have said before, those who are supported by government go along with whatever government says, because they won't bite the hand that feeds them.
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