Is an Individual Mandate to Buy Health Insurance a Good Idea?

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Hotel in Muenster buchen of 6:39PM April 02, 2010

The entire purpose of the mandate is to bring a form of Marxism into the U.S.
I agree with the people saying not to call it socialism; let's call the mandate what it is: Marxist medicine.
Per the Encyclopedia of Philosophy at Stanford University:
Communism is described by Marx, in the Critique of the Gotha Programme, as a society in which each person should contribute according to their ability and receive according to their need. This certainly sounds like a theory of justice, and could be adopted as such. However it is possibly truer to Marx's thought to say that this is part of an account in which communism transcends justice, as Lukes has argued.

Merry of MT 3:51PM October 17, 2009

I understand now why the Caduceus is used as the symbol for medicine in the U.S. The twined snakes represent the medical field itself, the other, government. These two have battled their way up the rod(=life), and are perched to strike at the wings(=we the people) above. If we are required to buy for-profit health coverage, under threat of penalty, how are we any better off than, say, China? Their gov't dictates many aspects of the lives of its citizens to them. But even China isn't as audacious as demanding where personal income is spent, or on which products/services. This is lunacy! It is Fascism writ large, yet Socialism in that ALL MUST OBEY AND COMPLY! Individual Mandates are the most Unconstitutional pile of garbage we have been fed yet! If this provision passes and cannot be defeated, we will all suffer. What's to stop them from mandating other uses for OUR money? Why not an Internet Mandate: Everyone has to get a computer with a high-speed connection, OR ELSE! If this works for them, the powers that be will be lords over all of your purchases, and may eventually demand brand loyalty, why not? This so called healthcare reform is a farce; a blatant money grab designed to kick us when we're down. If they're going to start holding us to things like buying into their schemes, we need to hold them accountable for essential things like our well being, safety, education, etc. Yet these are the very things our elected leaders are now trying to profit from! A real and viable Public Option is the only hope we have of moving toward Universal Heath Care, This is our most desperate need, regardless of what the Socialist-scremers say. However, we cannot allow this Individual Mandate to move forward at any cost, even if defeating the mandate means sacrificing that Public Option. The proposed Mandate is poison in the well. We desperately need reform. Not Baucus' or Frist's or Armey's shenanigans. We have come, some of us dying, in good faith to our government to plead for accessible and fair treatment for all. They have given us a labyrinth of false choices and fed us lies, all while working behind our backs with the very monstrosity which has contributed to our ills by doing its bidding. We have entrusted our lives to our government; all the while she has betrayed us by lying with our enemies and handing over our wealth to them. Yea even with both hands!

Enlightened Barbarian of OH 12:50AM October 13, 2009

Health care costs money. They only question is who will pay?
You can pay with your cash.
You can buy health insurance (pre-need) so that you are covered when the need arises.
You can let the other taxpayers pay your bill for you.
Which is the moral choice?
All other questions are windowdressing.
If you don't want to be required to buy health insurance, you should be prepared to be turned away at the doctor's office or hospital.

John of Colorado Springs of CO 5:43PM October 06, 2009

Your absolutely right Obama has no appreciation of our great veterans as you or our Troops out there in harms way. He and his disgusting American hating wife are out there wasting tax payers money to try and endorse the corruption filled state of Chicago for the future Olympics. Thank god they failed as has 47 state officials in Chicago have been brought up on corruption charges as we all know.
Obama is a disgrace to our troops as he selfishly bashed them as wrong doers to other nations as an attempt to appease. All for his own failing socialist agenda. This Acorn administration needs to butt out of running any business affairs as they have failed miserably. Trillions in dept, incompetent in Afghanistan and failing to bring Acorn up on charges is what we have from this spending spree to no where. Obama is a FAILURE as is his Democrat party. Acorn is just another name for the Democrat party as we all know.
Any mandates from this incompetent government is a BAD idea!
Vote out all Democrats in 2010
FOX
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FOX
WATCH FOX NEWS,BALANCED AND HONESTY NOT FOUND IN OTHER NEWS OUTLETS IN AMERICAN MEDIA!
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OBAMA IS SO PETRIFIED OF FOX HE WILL NOT GO NEAR THE STATION IN FEAR OF ANSWERING HARD QUESTIONS AND HAVING TO FINALLY TELL SOME TRUTH! WHERE'S THE TRANSPARENCY HE RAN ON!!
A LIAR AND A COMPLETE FAILURE!!

I.P.Daily 11:59PM October 03, 2009

Is the mandatory requirement a good idea? I say no way!!! Of the requirements in the Constitution, only one service is guaranteed; the right to legal assistance. This makes perfect sense because the law has penalties that infringe upon freedom,i.e. jail.
Mandatory health care as a precondition for citizenship fails on all counts; it does nothing to reduce costs,does not optimize efficiency, and certainly does not allow the freedom to make personal choices about very personal issues.
Take Massachusetts, for example. Mandatory health care is the law of the commonwealth, but still about 30% of its uninsured citizens are still uninsured. Yet the commonwealth has just rammed through a series of additional taxes and fees and raised the rest to plug holes in its budget. The biggest consumer of government funding is entitlement programs, and health care for the uninsured is one of the biggest program. This program, if enacted by the Federal government, would provide the same result on a national scale.
Cost containment is nowhere to be found in any proposal, yet all proposals say that they will reduce costs. How is this possible? The scheme looks like pushing on a string; it just does not work! How is demanding more money from everyone going to contain costs? The result is that it does not; it only allows a greater cash flow.
Health benefits as part of an employment package is one way for a company to attract and retain workers that it likes. Yet there are those who call this type of merit system biased, rigged, and unfair. The concept of working hard and being rewarded for the effort with something other than cash seems reasonable and fair to those who work for it! Removing that merit system only removes the motivation to succeed; if all compensation is equal, then there is no reason to excel.
We were founded on the concept of individual freedom and responsibility; requiring all to purchase insurance is counter to the concept. If a person does not want or cannot afford the insurance, the government should not have the power to force them to do so. All other insurance is voluntary in that not purchasing it does not constitute a crime. One can live without cars and life insurance and house insurance; these are all choices. Health care should be treated in the same manner. The freedom to purchase or not purchase a product or service is one of our greatest freedoms and a triumph of our society; we should not give it up, no matter how noble the cause is that would deprive us of it.

Theodore J. Sattley of NH 5:13PM October 03, 2009

i was proud to serve my country .im a vietnam vet and proud of it we were not given a choice about going to nam but we did and servired with pride we got slamed when we got home now obama wants to take away our health care and make us pay more then we already have why dont he cut some of the big shots from spending so much money on things that are not needed

sgt cole d.b. of NY 2:07PM September 28, 2009