Say Anything Blog

Yikes…

WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that a mandate requiring every American to purchase health insurance was the only way to achieve universal health care but she rejected the notion of punitive measures to force individuals into the health care system.

“At this point, we don’t have anything punitive that we have proposed,” the presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’re providing incentives and tax credits which we think will be very attractive to the vast majority of Americans.”

She said she could envision a day when “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview — like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,” but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress.

Hillary says that “at this point” she doesn’t have anything “punitive” in mind for people who don’t have health insurance.  So that raises a couple of questions.

First, what “punitive” things does she have in mind for the future?  Fines for people with no health care?  Jail time?  Well what about people who can’t afford the health care Hillary is mandating?  Surely a good bleeding-heart liberal like Hillary isn’t going to let that happen, so I imagine all the people who can’t afford health care will get it from the taxpayers.  Which will create the sort of vicious cycle we’ve seen with government tuition subsidies driving up the cost of higher education.  As Americans are taxed more and more to pay for this health care plan more and more people won’t be able to afford their own health care.  So more of them will be get it from the taxpayers thus increasing the burden on the taxpayers.  And so it goes.

Hillary says that this won’t be government-run health care, and maybe it isn’t (though I have a hard time believing that government-mandated insurance isn’t “government-run”), but it certainly puts us on the road to that.

Second, what about illegal immigrants?  Hillary, like a good union lackey, screeches bloody murder whenever someone talks about requiring people to prove citizenship before they get a job (or before they vote, for that matter, but I digress).  Now she’s in favor of making people prove they have health insurance before they get a job?  And how long until Hillary’s plan is covering illegal immigrants? 

That’s a question I’d really like to hear her answer.