Just in case you’ve been only sorta following the healthcare debate and are sure that, at the end of the day, the government will do something at least passably sane, this news just in as a reply to Sen Ensign from the Health Care task force.

Just in case the article at the above link gets withdrawn…. here it is in its entirety:

September 25, 2009
Categories: Senate

Ensign receives handwritten confirmation

This doesn’t happen often enough.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it “Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.”

The note was a follow-up to Ensign’s questioning at the markup.

Stalin would be SO proud - ‘buy my healthcare or I’ll send you to jail’ - Obama.

Well, I guess there’s free healthcare in jail, right?

Change you can believe in!