A vote for this amendment says that we are okay with deadbeats scoffing their responsibility to purchase their own insurance, secure in the knowledge that the rest of us will be forced to pick up the tab for their health care if they get sick.

Nothing like this in the Florida constitution is going to stand up now that the US Supreme Court has already ruled that the federal individual mandate is constitutional. Passage simply gives the rest of the country the opportunity to say, "Yep, Flori-duh did it again."

Self-employed in a not-great economy does not make every individual who cannot pay $635.00 a month ~ quoted for me personally from Florida Blue ~ a deadbeat! Is it the individual at fault, or are costs too high??? Not everyone in FL. can even get a job. Who is going to hire someone at 60 - 64 years of age, a few years too young for medicare?? There are also many who are struggling to feed their families. Just because people don't have health insurance doesn't mean that they are not paying their own way for healthcare or going without needed healthcare.

Wow.......very nice to know where our Deputy Mayor resides on the issues of Tyranny vs. Freedom.

So, Rob, please tell me how I am a deadbeat for NOT purchasing a product I have no interest in using. I am not a fan of Allopathic medicine and the Medical Industry complex as a whole. I've never wanted to become one of their customers, and now some people in DC believe they can make me one by forcing me to be "responsible" by purchasing a product?

And please keep your ad hominem responses to yourself.........they do not work with those who actually think on their own. You're response shows how UNAmerican you are.......how limited your knowledge is regarding the setup of the country.

Regardless of what 5 bought and paid for robe-wearers believe, the 10th Amendment trumps ANYTHING Federal.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

You may have been taught to believe differently, but this is the truth. This Proposed Amendment is the States utilizing the 10th Amendment.

Do you really want to bow to every whim from those who do not live in this State, nor have the residents interest at heart? If they can force this purchase, where does it stop??

I do not ever go to a Medical Doctor, nor do I want to.......there's so many different types of medicine, why limit my choice......via insurance.....to one type????

By the way, my wife and children's insurance doubled and now I must be taxed for not purchasing a product and you are applauding??? I guess you are one of the ones who prefer to see our economies on life support.....TAX, TAX, and TAX some more.......NEVER stop the spending.

How about the Feds quit stealing $$$$ from you and I to give(Foreign Aid) to Dictators in other countries and how about they quit bombing innocent men, woman and children in other countries........then perhaps "Affordable care" for all would be feasible.

As it is, please keep your slave mentality to yourself. Let those of us who believe in Freedom and Liberty live as we should.

www.thefreedictionary.com/liberty

WOW, by the comments I have read, I can tell no one has even been really sick, or in a position where some they love has been near death or in a position in which their loved one has been over looked for some type of organ transplant. As a past nurse with 11 years of nursing home experience, I can't tell you how many times my heart was broken when I would try to fight my best for my patients to get equal care, the "best" care available, but to be turned down due to the type of insurance they had. I never felt it was fair that one patient would get the best mattress to lay on to prevent bed sore's, the best wound care medicine, and the best oral medicine, physical therapy, speech therapy, etc. just because they had better insurance coverage. As people whom pretend to care for their fellow human beings, and talk the talk when then visit their churches,and their lunches, meetings, etc., What kind of person can honesty put a price on other peoples lives? A person whom claims to not wish to see a doc is fine, that's their choice, they apparently are healthy at this time, but as time goes by, there will come a day that person will not always be so lucky to be in such fine health, or someone they love may all of a sudden become seriously sick and in need of the BEST medical attention available. When I was younger, I never felt insurance was necessary, I never got sick, I had a high tolerance for pain and felt people on disability were slackers, well I am one of those "slackers" now!

Thank you Teresa. My point exactly. If we accept the premise that everybody has to purchase their own health care, via insurance or self-pay, then the flip side is that none of us should be asked to kick in for those who don't want to pay for their insurance. If Mr. Clemens doesn't want to pay for insurance, that is fine. I wouldn't suggest that he has to buy it. Just don't ask for me to pay for his care when he eventually gets sick.

There IS an alternative and it has been adopted by virtually every other industrialized country in the world: They have national health insurance and that controls costs... unlike our system where costs are out of control. They spend less and they have better health outcomes than we do. Simply put, they are getting more for their money.

If folks don't want national health insurance and they don't want an individual mandate to require folks to purchase their own insurance, the alternative is to accept that some folks are going to die for lack of insurance. It's not right to bury the cost of their care in the premiums that responsible people pay when they buy insurance. (BTW, I'm one of the folks who have been denied individual health insurance by the sleazy insurance companies).

Interestingly enough, Mr. Romney designed a program with an individual mandate and that program was the model for Obamacare. Now he can't run fast enough to get away from the child of his own creation.

this is so confusing.. vote yes mean support amendmet 1 or support obamacare?