As one of the more controversial aspects of Obamacare, the individual mandate was the successful target of Republicans in 2017. The tax bill signed by President Trump nixed it While speaking to CNN on Monday morning former vice president and 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden promised to bring back the individual mandate if elected—not really surprising anyone since his candidacy is tied to President Obama’s legacy,
Biden: "If you provide an option for anybody who in fact wants to buy into Medicare for All, they can buy in. They buy in and they can do it. But if they like their employer-based insurance, which a lot of unions broke their neck to get… they shouldn't have to give it up" pic.twitter.com/iQXEw2M01F
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 5, 2019
In the interview, Biden said, “If you provide an option for anybody who in fact wants to buy into Medicare for All, they can buy in. They buy in and they can do it. But if they like their employer-based insurance, which a lot of unions broke their neck to get… they shouldn’t have to give it up. The flip of that is, if you don’t go my way, and you go their way, you have to give up all of that.” He added, “Yes, I’d bring back the individual mandate.”
The sticking point for many regarding the individual mandate is the financial penalty imposed by the government on those who don’t have health insurance. In other words, the federal government takes away your choice. And as much as leftists don’t want to admit it, the individual mandate amounts to a tax on the working poor.
The cheaper premiums that the working poor can afford are insurance plans that are, in a word, crap.
While in my twenties and most of my thirties, as a member of the working poor, I never would’ve used the insurance even if I could have afforded the monthly premium. A “measly” two-thousand-dollar deductible would’ve been astronomically unmanageable — two thousand dollars may as well be tens of thousands of dollars to most of this country’s working poor. You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip, to put it in the language of a Southern colloquialism.
With that federally mandated health insurance, during my twenties and early thirties, I still wouldn’t have gone to the doctor. I still would’ve treated the emergency room as my primary care physician. Obamacare would’ve simply drained my meager bank account of money for no good reason, making it even harder for me to climb the economic ladder.
Because of that, if the individual mandate had existed when I was a member of the working poor, I would’ve chosen the financial penalty. It’s cheaper, and the way I would’ve managed my health care wouldn’t have changed a bit.
Joe Biden has either lived in the land of privilege for too long that he doesn’t comprehend what it’s like for the working poor or he simply doesn’t care about them. America’s hardworking men and women don’t need the federal government making it harder for them to get ahead. They need the federal government to help clear the way so that their hard work enables them to climb the economic ladder. If Joe Biden is elected president, America’s working poor will suffer.
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