"Your Insurance Papers, pleeze..."

No, we're not talking about auto insurance, we're talking about mandatory health insurance coverage here:

Insure Yourself or Go to Jail With Spouse--Separate Cells, of Course

Did you read that carefully? Remember the promise of "95% of Americans won't see their taxes go up..."? Well, apparently that is no longer operative.

Some essentials for those who won't follow the link:

You will be required by government to purchase healthcare insurance. The average estimated cost for a non-group family policy will be $15,000 per year. So, you are low income and young with little healthcare risk, but you've got to spend $1250/month right off the top before shelter, food, clothing, transportation or existing taxes.

Wouldn't that be a tax?

But, if you choose not to you can be fined 2.5% of your adjusted gross income. If that is on top of existing income taxes isn't that a tax increase?

If you default, you can be fined up to $250,000 and imprisoned. Remember that British custom of indentured servitude? As I recall it was influential in fleeing England to the colonies and then the American Revolution.

Can Congress figure out that you can't get blood out of that turnip? If you can't buy the insurance and you can't pay the taxes, why would they think you had a quarter of a million for a fine? And, why should a spouse be imprisoned simply because you filed joint taxes?

Can you miss the unintended consequence of the financial burden of all that new prison space and staffing and prisoner support?

The US Congress is quite apparently totally insane and out of control.