One step closer to ObamaCare

Comrade Pelosi and her gang voted and passed the healthcare bill this weekend. The vote was 220 For, 215 Against. All Democrats, and one Republican (Anh Quang Cao, R-Louisiana) voted for passage. All but one of the Republicans, along with 39 Democrats, voted against passage. You can see how your Congress critter voted in this sortable list here.

Karl Denniger asks: Do we live in a Constitutional Republic anymore? and notes:

The House Bill not only fails to address the problem but is an outrageously-broad and, I would argue, an unconstitutional reach into Americans most private parts. The Administration's own spokespeople admit this bill will cost us some 5.5 million jobs - on top of the 8 million we've already lost in the present economic malaise since the peak of employment in the summer of 2007. My "back of the envelope" computations are similar - I come up with 5 million jobs lost with a 20% variance and 95% confidence level - that is, somewhere between 4 and 6 million should be the total. Darn close, given that I'm not privvy to the Administration's facts and figures and am forced to work off published information. [emphasis added]

So the government's own estimate is that we'll lose another five and a half million jobs if this becomes law? I missed the memo, but is that a selling point? I mean, it's not like we have an unemployment problem or anything, right? Gee, how are they going to afford healthcare insurance if they're unemployed?

And according to the House Republicans, Comrade Nancy "Nanny Nan" Pelosi's bill will force you to buy a policy or go to jail:

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years. [emphasis added] ...

I can picture it now:

Inmate One: "So mac, what're you in for?"

Inmate Two: "Armed robbery. How about you?"

Inmate One: "I feel behind on my health insurance premiums."

Looks like they're gonna need to spend a bunch of that "stimulus" money (if any is still left) on a whole passel of new prisons to house all the feloniously uninsured.