Meet Joe The Mechanic 2012 - The Video

This powerful video, from the new Kaiser Health Network, of a Massachusetts mechanic who says he cannot afford the state's mandatory health insurance is a look into the future for President Obama about the political danger he faces embracing mandatory health insurance.

The mechanic literally uses words Obama spoke on the campaign trial: it's not that he doesn't want insurance, it's that he cannot afford it. As a result, the state of Massachusetts taxes him $900 per year.

President Obama came out this week strong for a public option to the private market, and only a strong public health care system that is cost effective can counter the political power of video like this. Does President Obama want to face a mechanic on the 2012 campaign trail who will be taxed by the IRS because he is being price gouging by health insurers and cannot afford the insurance? This video should show the president the need to do health care reform right by regulating insurers and offering a public option to the private market, not creating a punitive mandate for all Americans to buy unaffordable policies.

Comments

[RN4MERCY]

The injustice in this story is heartbreaking. This is just so wrong, that our government can penalize someone for failing to buy an unaffordable, defective product. Let's see...just who does this arrangement benefit? Certainly not everyday working class people like Joe and his family. What kind of country are we living in? A country that criminalizes and penalizes the working poor?

I think we can do better than that.
Thanks, Jamie for this perfect illustration of why we need to put the for- profit insurers out of business and implement a Medicare for All health care system in this country.