General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It time to put an end to the GOP talking point repeated here on DU again and again. [View all]sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)you have priorities, food, rent, driving expenses which are mainly to get to an from work. You have no extra cash to spend on vacations or other luxuries, which in today's America includes HC. Let's say your job doesn't cover you so you simply cannot afford another dollar to buy coverage and live on the hope that no one gets sick.
Now there is a law that requires everyone to buy HC OR be fined by the IRS. You are earning too much to get assistance, so you now have an additional expense, and if you can't pay it, we all know what the IRS does when a tax bill is not paid.
To such a family, and there are untold numbers of them, that new tax means they have make yet another choice of what not to buy for their family. Should it be the clothes from the thrift shot, a little less milk or eggs for the children?
I don't think anyone who followed the debate on the HC bill was unaware of this. From a legal standpoint re the SC, it may save the bill, and at this point most of us probably hope it does. But that doesn't change the implications for many, not-quite-poor-enough families who are currently living paycheck to paycheck as it is.
No democratic country should be fining people for not buying HC, period. But we had that debate, we lost and all we can do now is hope that the bill will benefit enough people to be an improvement of what we had before, and work hard to get what all Americans have a right to.