Interesting new proposal from California Democrat politician
Shocked by the high cost of auto insurance for some Americans, a Democrat member of California's state Assembly, Javier Becerra, has introduced a bill that would give poor residents free automobile insurance.
Under the bill--titled "Affordable Automobile Insurance for All"--the state would pay for auto insurance for anyone with an income below 1.5 times the official federal "poverty line." The program would be funded by taxing all existing auto insurance policies. Becerra said initial estimates were that the new "fairness levy" on existing auto insurance policies would be about $110 per year.
He acknowledged that there was a very small chance this figure could rise if more people than anticipated applied for the free insurance, but said this was quite unlikely. He noted the experience of the Affordable Care Act--sometimes called Obamacare--which showed far more people applied for "subsidies" for their health insurance than the bill's drafters anticipated, but said that wouldn't happen here since the insurance is for cars instead of health, so it wasn't comparable.
A few Republicans--who Becerra noted hate immigrants and taxes--criticized the bill, saying the author's use of the term "fairness levy" was an effort to disguise the fact that it was a tax. They also claimed the program was yet another attempt by Democrats to bribe people to vote for them. But Becerra noted that the bill would benefit all residents by ensuring that every driver had insurance. He noted that there have been a few unconfirmed reports that after accidents some drivers simply ran away from the scene, which critics claim likely means they didn't have required auto insurance.
Leading national Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the bill, saying she hoped to introduce a similar bill in congress to make the program a national mandate. "It's horribly unfair that many minorities and people of color have to pay more for auto insurance than they do for food or entertainment," she said. "This program would end that awful unfairness."
Senator Kamala Harris (D-California)--whose last position was as California's Attorney-General, and who many believe will be the next Democrat presidential nominee--agreed, saying Americans need to be more fair to the poor, and especially to immigrants, both documented and otherwise. She suggested California Democrat political leaders should expand this bill to also pay for the cost of annual licence plate renewal for the poor.
Former president Barack Obama endorsed the idea, saying he hoped California's effort to bring free auto insurance to the poor would be a successful as the health insurance program he and congressional Democrats succeeded in passing in 2010. "Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, people are saving huge amounts on health insurance, while providing insurance for those who couldn't afford it before," he said.
Okay, how many paragraphs did it take for you to realize this was parody?
What's the fundamental difference between government taxing people to "give" "free" health insurance to the poor, and the proposal outlined above? In other words, if you accept the rationale for Obamacare, what prevents that same rationale from covering every other good or service that some politician says we MUST provide to the poor, because...reasons?
And if you demurr on any of the proposals, Democrat elites scream that you're a raaaacist who hates immigrants and people of color.
Under the bill--titled "Affordable Automobile Insurance for All"--the state would pay for auto insurance for anyone with an income below 1.5 times the official federal "poverty line." The program would be funded by taxing all existing auto insurance policies. Becerra said initial estimates were that the new "fairness levy" on existing auto insurance policies would be about $110 per year.
He acknowledged that there was a very small chance this figure could rise if more people than anticipated applied for the free insurance, but said this was quite unlikely. He noted the experience of the Affordable Care Act--sometimes called Obamacare--which showed far more people applied for "subsidies" for their health insurance than the bill's drafters anticipated, but said that wouldn't happen here since the insurance is for cars instead of health, so it wasn't comparable.
A few Republicans--who Becerra noted hate immigrants and taxes--criticized the bill, saying the author's use of the term "fairness levy" was an effort to disguise the fact that it was a tax. They also claimed the program was yet another attempt by Democrats to bribe people to vote for them. But Becerra noted that the bill would benefit all residents by ensuring that every driver had insurance. He noted that there have been a few unconfirmed reports that after accidents some drivers simply ran away from the scene, which critics claim likely means they didn't have required auto insurance.
Leading national Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the bill, saying she hoped to introduce a similar bill in congress to make the program a national mandate. "It's horribly unfair that many minorities and people of color have to pay more for auto insurance than they do for food or entertainment," she said. "This program would end that awful unfairness."
Senator Kamala Harris (D-California)--whose last position was as California's Attorney-General, and who many believe will be the next Democrat presidential nominee--agreed, saying Americans need to be more fair to the poor, and especially to immigrants, both documented and otherwise. She suggested California Democrat political leaders should expand this bill to also pay for the cost of annual licence plate renewal for the poor.
Former president Barack Obama endorsed the idea, saying he hoped California's effort to bring free auto insurance to the poor would be a successful as the health insurance program he and congressional Democrats succeeded in passing in 2010. "Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, people are saving huge amounts on health insurance, while providing insurance for those who couldn't afford it before," he said.
Okay, how many paragraphs did it take for you to realize this was parody?
What's the fundamental difference between government taxing people to "give" "free" health insurance to the poor, and the proposal outlined above? In other words, if you accept the rationale for Obamacare, what prevents that same rationale from covering every other good or service that some politician says we MUST provide to the poor, because...reasons?
And if you demurr on any of the proposals, Democrat elites scream that you're a raaaacist who hates immigrants and people of color.
posted by SF at
10:00 AM
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