This afternoon Boston lawmakers approved a bill overwhelmingly that will require health insurance of all citizens. Note the language: citizens are required to have it:
The plan approved just 24 hours after the final details were released would use a combination of financial incentives and penalties to dramatically expand access to health care over the next three years and extend coverage to the state’s estimated 500,000 uninsured.
If all goes as planned, poor people will be offered free or heavily subsidized coverage; those who can afford insurance but refuse to get it will face increasing tax penalties until they obtain coverage; and those already insured will see a modest drop in their premiums.
Art Caplan who sent this one along writes “hooray, hallelujah and huzzah! Sometimes my home state makes me very proud!”