McClaughry: History shows what the individual insurance mandate could look like

By John McClaughry

Last Saturday the Vermont House and Senate finalized approval of a stupid and odious bill to impose a mandate on every Vermonter to buy overpriced state-approved Obamacare health insurance.

Yeah, or else what? The cowardly legislators weren’t willing to tell the public what’s in store for them if they don’t obey the mandate. They created a working group to develop the penalties next January.

Let’s get real here. Just what penalty is the state going to impose? This was a central part of the Health Security Act, promoted but not enacted in the 2005 legislature. (At least the promoters of that bill had the courage to actually declare the penalties.)

Here’s what those penalties were to be: “Individuals who are not otherwise covered, and who refuse to participate in the Plan, will be sanctioned by some combination of denial of motor vehicle registration, drivers’ license, homestead property tax exemption, hunting and fishing licenses, and enrollment in any school or college in the state.”

Add to that a straight-out tax or fine, as in Obamacare, loss of your income tax exemption, confiscation of your income tax refund, garnishing of your wages, and maybe, for particularly defiant behavior, a trip to the correctional center, and you have the full panoply of state power over the liberty of Vermonters.

I applaud the sixteen House members, all Republicans, who stood up and said no. We haven’t heard the last of this.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Ted Eytan

4 thoughts on “McClaughry: History shows what the individual insurance mandate could look like

  1. My husband and I escaped the Obamacare mandate by joining a Christian healthcare co-op ministry (Liberty Healthshare). Our monthly contribution (premium) is $316.00 and out annual personal obligation (deductible) is $500 each. The co-op has covered major hospital stays as well as preventative health care at a much reduced cost from traditional insurance. We have taken responsibility for our health and healthcare expenses yet we are technically uninsured. Will we now be forced by a VT mandate (because their proxy single payer system won’t work without coercing citizens to purchase government approved insurance,) to purchase more expensive coverage?

    • “Will we now be forced by a VT mandate ”

      Probably, that’s what progressives love to do, force you into a behavior by taxation. Look at the the “sugar” tax. You can walk into a store and purchase 100% V8 splash that is sales tax free. However right next to it lies the “Light” version that’s been diluted with water to attain a label of 50% juice. Guess what, you will pay tax on the watered down version.

      Vermont continues to try to tax every bit of money velocity, it burdensome and expensive to administer. Yet look at NH that doesn’t perform this redistribution of wealth and happens to have the one of the lowest poverty levels in the country, YES lower then even the bluest of blue states. Vermont.

      The simplest way to remedy all this, is do what I did. Pack your bags. Move to state the believes in economic freedom and doesn’t look at producers as slabs of meat.

      Cheers!

  2. John:

    Scott better not sign this thing….I mean really, he had better not.

    Dennis Morrisseau
    USArmy Officer
    I REFUSED ORDERS TO VIETNAM

    Lieutenant Morrisseau’s Rebellion
    FireCongress.org
    LIBERTY UNION founder
    Second Vermont Republic, VFM
    POB 177, W. Pawlet, VT 05775
    dmorso1@netzero.net
    802 645 9727 9727

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