The Virginia Championship Hare Scramble Series

[Bulldog]

From CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- The health care law signed Tuesday by President Obama is projected to extend insurance coverage to roughly 32 million additional Americans, but what happens to those who don't get themselves covered by health insurance?

The new law creates penalties in the tax code as an incentive.

An adult who does not have health insurance by 2014 would be penalized $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, so long as the amount does not exceed the price tag of a basic health plan. But by 2016, the penalty increases to $695 for an uninsured adult, and up to $2,085 per household, or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater.

A person would also be penalized only if he or she went more than three months of the year without insurance.

Some people are exempt from the new law. If a person's income is below a certain level, or if the cheapest insurance would cost 8 percent of the person's income, no penalty would apply for lack of coverage.

There also are exemptions for people in prison, people objecting on recognized religious grounds and for members of Native American tribes.

The rules were spelled out over the weekend by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which includes both Senate and House members.

The yet-to-be-implemented system might like the one in Massachusetts, which has had a similar penalty system in place since 2007. In Massachusetts, taxpayers are required to prove they had insurance by completing a three-page section of the state income tax form.

The Massachusetts tax form instructs taxpayers to mark any months when there was no health care coverage. There is also a place to write a reason for no coverage, such as low income or religious beliefs.

Massachusetts reported fining around 45,000 taxpayers for 2008, 1.5 percent of all tax filers, with penalties of up to $1,100 per person.

Republicans including Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, warn that the Internal Revenue Service could need as many as 16,000 additional agents to implement all the provisions of the new law.

"This bill is so complicated, has so many mandates, has so many new taxes," Brady said, "that the IRS is going to again be more deeply involved in our lives than ever before."

The Democratic position is that similar worries were heard before the IRS was instructed to implement the Earned Income Tax Credit, yet the program ended up running relatively smoothly.

Obama has argued that the only fair way to make insurers cover everyone, even the most expensive patients, is for everyone, even the healthiest patients, to be required to join the insurance pool.

For most violations, like failure to pay taxes, the IRS can enforce penalties by imposing liens on taxpayers and by garnishing wages. But for health coverage penalties, according to the Joint Taxation committee, there is currently no provision for collection under health care reform, other than reminder letters or subtracting a penalty from any refund a taxpayer is owed.
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Ralph Benhart - VCHSS
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[ChrisClark]

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CUCC241_20100323-232802/332545/

Minutes after health-care legislation was signed into law by President Barack Obama yesterday, Virginia made good on its promise to sue the federal government over it, joining at least 13 other states that are legally challenging the health-system overhaul.

State Solicitor General E. Duncan Getchell Jr. and Deputy Attorney General Wesley G. Russell Jr. filed Virginia's complaint in U.S. District Court in Richmond on behalf of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

Virginia is challenging the constitutionality of the new law, primarily based on the argument that the "commerce clause" of the U.S. Constitution cannot be used by Congress to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"It has never been held that the 'commerce clause,' even when aided by the 'necessary and proper clause,' can be used to require citizens to buy goods and services," Cuccinelli asserts in the seven-page complaint.

The federal law is unconstitutional because "the individual mandate exceeds the enumerated powers conferred upon Congress," the complaint states. "Because the individual mandate is an essential, nonseverable provision, the entire act is likewise invalid."

The complaint asserts that Virginia's own recently enacted law -- which prohibits residents from being required to purchase insurance or from being subject to fines for failure to do so -- is valid over federal law. Idaho recently enacted a similar law, called the Idaho Healthcare Freedom Act, to prevent its residents from being compelled to purchase health insurance.

Also yesterday, another legal challenge to the federal health-care bill was filed in Florida, asserting the rights of states outlined in the 10th Amendment.

Joining Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's litigation were attorneys general from Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington -- all Republicans with the exception of Louisiana Attorney General James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, a Democrat.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday endorsed Cuccinelli's pursuit of the litigation, saying the health overhaul represents "an unprecedented expansion of federal power."

McDonnell said the new laws would have "a significant and unavoidable impact on the bottom line of our state budget by adding 400,000 people to Medicaid rolls and costing a total of $1.1 billion by 2022.

"The issues raised by Attorney General Cuccinelli require a full and prompt review by the judicial branch," McDonnell said.

Cuccinelli's legal action had critics, who were buoyed yesterday by a survey showing increased public support for the health-care overhaul.

A Gallup Poll released yesterday showed that nationwide, 49 percent of Americans said the restructuring of the nation's health-care system is a "good thing," compared with 40 percent who classified it as a "bad thing." Eleven percent of respondents said they were undecided.

Social activists also weighed in. "We are concerned that the political actions of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli may simply allow health-insurance industry abuse of small business, seniors and children to continue," said a statement issued by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.

"Virginians of faith embrace the health-reform provisions and are glad that about 1 million of our brothers and sisters who are uninsured in Virginia will finally get access to quality, affordable health care," said the statement, by health policy analyst Ali Faruk.

David Mills, executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party, said the attorney general's office was being used as a "Piq bank for Ken Cuccinelli's political agenda."

Cuccinelli's office said the litigation will not cost taxpayers extra money but would come from the attorney general's budget. Yesterday, the office paid the required $350 fee to file the suit.

In a ceremony today, McDonnell will sign the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act. The legislation passed the Republican-controlled House with bipartisan support 91-2; it passed the Democrat-controlled Senate, with the governor's amendments, 26-14.

Four of Virginia's 11 members of the U.S. House -- all Democrats -- supported the president's health-care bill, which narrowly passed the House on a 219-212 vote. The remaining seven, including two Democrats, voted against the measure.
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Chris Clark
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