AMA wants Health Insurance Mandatory

June 15, 2006 2:28 p.m. EST


Richard Rittierodt - All Headline News Contributor
Chicago, IL (AHN) - According to the American Medical Association, Americans that can afford to buy health insurance should be required to do so.

They are pushing for legislation that would make it mandatory for anyone that has an income that is 500 percent of the federal poverty level.

So, any individual making $49,000 or more would be required to buy health insurance. According to the AMA, those individuals make up about 11 percent of the uninsured.

Due to that, society has to pay higher taxes and higher premiums because those individuals elect not to pay for insurance.

Dr. Ardis Hoven, an AMA board member, said, "Young, relatively healthy people who elect not to have health insurance create an excessive amount of cost to the health care system."