<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_Z5af1oTOkU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_Z5af1oTOkU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Yes if they don't have a driver license nor intend to drive. Remember driving is a privledge, not a right.
My brother is an ER Doc at Mt Sinai. He's thrilled it passed. Mt Sinai covered (and passed on) almost $80 million in "uncompensated care" last year.
I would think so. Also, use of the IRS to enforce this law is another nail in the coffin of good ol' USA.
Insurers and hospitals already decide who lives and dies by virtue of extending or denying coverage/treatment. It's the chronically ill (cancer etc) who get turned away because there's no point throwing good money after bad (low survival rate, extensive treatment time etc), and the guilt factor is low (if the hospital denies treatment, did they *really* kill him/her?) Emergency room visits are often one-shot, immediate treatments that can save a life, right then and there. The guilt-factor of not saving that life is much higher, and the cost relative to saving that life is relatively low compared to extended illness. But lets not kid ourselves, hospitals and insurers "kill" people all the time by denying treatment/coverage.
You're not forced to purchase insurance on a car you own but don't drive. I see it as a potentially efficient means of distributing the costs of the uninsured, catastrophic liability. Why should the 21 hick who breaks his neck riding a quad be covered under uninsured hospital care simply because he doesn't feel the need to pay for health insurance?
So the average policy will run $1,000 to $1,250 per month. Hell, I pay $1100 per month for my house, so this policy will cost me as much as a house. Funny because one of the selling points for this bill was that americans were going bankrupt and losing their homes because of medical bills, so now its like basically buying a home to keep you from losing your home. Wow...a family of 4 making 88k after taxes and medical will actually be taking home maybe 35k. I really have to wonder what the lifestyle difference would be now between someone making 88k and someone making 35k per year. Probably nothing as the 35k per year gets the subsidies plus the EIC credit every year. This bill basically just wiped out the standard of living for an entire income bracket.
Actually, some states, N. Carolina being one that I know of first hand, require all license holders to have insurance, whether they own a car or not. This effectively lowers rates across the board for everyone, the responsible drivers essentially subsidizing the irresponsible. This same logic has been applied to Obamacare, that the healthy and wealthy subsidize the sick and poor. The only difference is there is no law saying you have to have a drivers license if you don't want to. Healthcare on the other hand...