This one from the ever interesting John Goodman:
This brings us to the third set of parallel universes: the world of the poor and the world of the middle class. Take the issue of a health insurance mandate. Whatever the argument for requiring middle class families to buy insurance, there is almost no valid argument for fining poor people if they do not enroll in a program for which no premium is charged in any event. Currently, there are about 10 million uninsured people who are eligible for Medicaid and S-CHIP, but who have not enrolled. In another three years, these people will be hit with fines totaling $695 per person by 2016. (Or will they get a hardship exception? Who knows?)
Does this make sense? I suppose you could argue that being uninsured is anti-social behavior, but so is a lot of other behavior. Should we fine poor people if they drop out of school? Smoke? Eat fatty foods? Have children out of wedlock? Fail to become employed? If these ideas appeal to you, you’ll love ObamaCare.
Sure, if the government can fine you for not buying health insurance, it can make you do whatever it wants, including doing things that will improve your health so you don’t cost so much to take care of. This is the crux of the constitutional argument against the “individual mandate.” Let this mandate stand, and socialism will have you by the proverbial family jewels.