I'm sure kdog will weigh in, but what do you think?

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation reported that the House version of the healthcare bill specifies that those who don't buy health insurance and do not pay the fine of about 2.5 percent of their income for failing to do so can face a penalty of up to five years in prison!

The bill describes the penalties as follows:

• Section 7203 -- misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 -- felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years." [page 3]

That anyone should face prison for not buying health insurance is simply incredible.

And how much will the stay-out-of-jail insurance cost? The Joint Committee noted that "according to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the lowest-cost family non-group plan under HR 3862 [the Pelosi bill] would cost $15,000 by 2016."

Obama's bill only provides subsidies to help pay this enormous sum after families making about $45,000 have paid 8 percent of their income for insurance and after those earning a household income of about $65,000 have kicked in 12 percent.

The Joint Committee on Taxation noted that while the Senate Finance Committee version of the bill did not include criminal penalties, "The House Democrats' bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail."

Remember that simply buying catastrophic insurance, which may be all the young uninsured family needs, does not constitute having adequate insurance under the Obama bill. It has to be total, all-inclusive insurance for one to avoid the penalties in the legislation.

Ladies, we have been asleep at the wheel.

McCaskill, who portrays herself as pro-choice, opines the Senate can probably live w/a Stupak-esque amendment.

Sen. Snowe voted against similar amendments in committee.

Sam Stein

"He thanked all the chairs [of the committees involved in developing the health care bill]," said Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y). "He thanked all leadership and he mentioned specifically John Dingell."

By the meeting's end, the vast majority of the attending lawmakers seemed confident of health care reform's passage -- though certainly there is the potential for flare-ups as the abortion amendment introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) comes to consideration.

"We are feeling pretty optimistic that we can defeat this," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a primary opponent of the amendment.

"Democracy is not pretty but it works," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), another opponent of the Stupak amendment. "I was here in 1993 when the ship went down," she said, referencing the Clinton administration's failed attempt to pass health reform. "This thing isn't going down."

Ooh, flare-ups! Ya think??? Thanks, Great Leader of Men and Defender of Women!

If the best the House Dems could do was sell off the equal treatment of women's health to pass this piece of cr@p by a couple of measly votes, I'm thrilled at the thought of this (IMO irreconcilable) "thing" dying in the Senate.

And R.I.P. too to future Dem scaremongering of women that if we don't support their pointless @sses, we'll lose abortion access and all other reproductive rights. I was sick of that cr@p six elections ago. (The list of RW gifts the current Dem majority has already enshrined in quick order is too long and disgusting to repeat.)

Any final twinges of conscience for dumping these useless windbags is gone, too. My choice not to support Dems anymore, vote for them, fund-raise for them and GOTV for them was sealed on the weekend.

Needless to say, I am NOT now prepared to die young/er for their vanity too, which is the fate for women this POS ensures by reducing our health to a petty annoyance that might have "the potential for flare-ups".

If anyone's left in the party who can read the writing on the wall, their takeaway should be to treat women's health with equal respect or health "reform" dies, period.

TMI: Owing to personal commitments (work, family, location decisions) this year, I was going to be a spectator on teh awesome OpRahma admin's Hope Ya Got (Spare) Change movement.

I'm beginning to think that all the turmoil over HCR for the last six months will end up being for naught. As the bill continues to be watered down and sabotaged by special interests, there won't be enough left in it to satisfy anyone.