Dem Health Care Bill Projects Huge Windfall From Millions Who Would Pay Fine Rather Than Get Coverage....

That's one hell of a contradiction. It's supposed to extend coverage to 96% of all US residents but counts on massive amounts of revenue from the uninsured.....

(Fox News)- The health care reform bill awaiting debate in the House assumes millions of workers and employers would rather pay $167 billion in fines than purchase or provide adequate coverage, according to a recent analysis, raising questions about whether the plan does enough to make insurance affordable. 

Though the bill is estimated to expand coverage from the current 83 percent to 96 percent of legal U.S. residents, the windfall of projected penalty payments also exposes a potential contradiction in reform. A significant part of the plan to expand coverage relies financially on fines from the uninsured. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in its study last week that the House bill would bring in $167 billion over 10 years -- $33 billion from fines paid by individuals who decline to buy insurance, and the rest from employers who don't offer insurance to workers or contribute enough toward premiums.

Ernest Istook, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma who is now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, calculated that anywhere between 8 million and 14 million people would end up paying the fines. 

This raises a few problems, he said. First, if those millions somehow get covered and don't pay the fine, then the health program is faced with a budget hole. 

ZIP

Comments

[Appalled By The World]

But what of that final four percent? They too must be covered-and more-so that at least 103 percent of Americans are covered (using the Obaman New Math method of course).

[CharginMyToxicLazerz]

obama math