Mandatory Health Insurance

A PRECEDENT FOR MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE

This legislation seems to be an in-place example of (and template for) a governmental entity requiring its citizens to purchase insurance coverage, or pay a penalty.  How is it different from the suggested Federal mandate that healthcare insurance be required on a national basis?  Insurance is insurance.  Mandatory is mandatory.  Penalties are penalties.   Or isn't it?   I am not taking a position pro- or con- the current healthcare reforms.  I am just noting that the government has required people to purchase items and attached penalties to their refusing to do so.  And that the requirements have not, so far, led us down some slippery slope as others have predicted.

Here is a segment of Virginia requirements:
Commonwealth of Virginia Manadatory Motor Vehicle Insurance
http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/vehicles/insurance.asp

"Virginia has a financial responsibility law, Motor Vehicle Code 46.2-706(*), that requires all Virginia registered motor vehicle owners to have motor vehicle liability insurance or enough money to pay for any losses that may result from an automobile accident."
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(*) Ref: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-706.1
"§ 46.2-706.1. Insurance and surety companies to furnish certain insurance information.
Any liability insurance information relating to individually identified vehicles or persons, received from such companies under this section, shall be considered privileged information and not subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.).   Such information shall be used in conjunction with information supplied under § 46.2-706 to verify insurance for motor vehicles certified by their owners to be insured."

"Insurance companies licensed to do business in Virginia shall provide to the Department monthly electronic updates of insured information and vehicle descriptions required by the Commissioner when they:
   (i) cancel liability insurance for vehicles registered in Virginia,
  (ii) add liability insurance for vehicles registered in Virginia, or
 (iii) provide liability insurance for vehicles registered in Virginia newly satisfying financial responsibility requirements.
(1993, c. 949; 1996, cc. 474, 489; 2009, c. 419.)"
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Uninsured Motor Vehicle Fee
http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/vehicles/uninsured_fee.asp

"The Virginia Uninsured Motor Vehicle (UMV) fee allows a motor vehicle owner to register an uninsured motor vehicle. At the time of registration, the motor vehicle owner must certify whether the vehicle is insured or uninsured.  If the vehicle is uninsured, the motor vehicle owner is required to pay to VA DMV a $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee in addition to normal registration fees. Payment of the $500 fee does not provide the motorist with any insurance coverage. If involved in an accident, the uninsured motorist remains personally liable. This fee is valid for twelve months but may be prorated for a shorter amount of time."

Penalty for Falsification of Insurance Coverage
"Motor vehicle owners who falsely certify that they have insurance and are found by VA DMV to be uninsured face stiff penalties. In addition to facing suspension of all driver and registration privileges, compliance includes payment of a $500 statutory fee, a $145 reinstatement fee and filing proof of insurance for three years. During the three-year period, insurance companies cooperate with DMV by providing notification if a policy is canceled. This requirement to maintain proof of insurance enables DMV to ensure that these motor vehicle owners maintain liability insurance on their registered vehicles."


Added info: Ref: FORBES Magazine, March 14, 2011, page 89, "Healthcare - Looking Ahead," OBAMACARE LIVES?
Congress passed the reform bill  and "... determined that the insurance market would collaps if Congress forced insurers to cover everybody without requiring everybody to buy insurance." 
["Insurer UnitedHealth Group reported last month that its first-quarter profits this year had exceeded those of the same period the previous year (2010) by 13 percent."  Ref: bshelly@kcstar.com, column for May 18, 2011, reprinted in the Virginian Pilot Online.]  UHC apparently hasn't collapsed yet.


Forbes article goes on to say: "Critics of ObamaCare ... including federal judges in FL and Virginia ... say ... for the first time Congress has ordered citizens to buy something instead of telling them what they can't do."  That may be true for US Congress, but it is incorrect in Virginia (you would think the VA judge would know) where the legislators have not only told residents what they have to buy, but also what they cannot do (i.e., drive without some sort of coverage or pony up funds for an escrow account if they are uninsured).