• Ostensibly, Obamacare was created to help Americans without health insurance. The purpose – as stated – was to get everyone in America insured. To lighten the burden on taxpayers (ha!). To cut through the endless bureaucracy of the healthcare system by putting the infallible government in charge. Because, of course, nothing can be done right when greedy health insurance companies are running the show. We must depend on our benevolent leaders to make sure everything is fair for all Americans.

Well, reports released Thursday by the IRS show just how fair the system is going to be to those people who fail to get insured by 2015. According to the IRS, individuals who aren’t insured by the time taxes roll around next year will be fined a maximum of $2,448. Take a moment and let that number sink in before we hit you with the whopper. Sitting down? Okay. A family of five can be fined up to $12,240 if they do not get health insurance this year. Wow, that should really get the economy moving!

Never mind the fact that the IRS is being increasingly exposed as an immoral, unethical wing of the Obama administration, playing out his agenda as they look for right-wing organizations to audit. And never mind that these penalties are meant only for the rich – incomes above $244,800 for individuals and $1.2 million for those families of five. That’s a smokescreen. The point here isn’t the dollar amount but the percentage. A fine of $3,000 may not be that tough to swallow for someone making mid-six figures, but a 1% fine of annual income hits those making less money exceptionally hard.

Remember the Bush incentives? The $300 middle-class Americans got in the mid-2000s? That $300 might not have seemed like much to those with high-paying careers, but they meant the world to families just scraping by. The dems claim to be the party of the poor – and the voters certainly seem to buy it – but these insurance penalties show otherwise.

Of course, a D.C. circuit court this week ruled that the tax incentives inherent in Obamacare may not be applicable in the 34 states still using the federal exchange. So, unless this ruling is overturned or more states create their own exchanges, it’s possible that these fines will never actually materialize. Still, the mere fact that the federal government is planning to penalize those who can’t afford health insurance paints a clear picture of an administration out of control. Let’s hope voters see the truth as they consider the 2016 election.