2 ms·

I think his point was the money is not being taken from them forcibly by the state, as is the case with a tax. One could rightly argue that the state should als

• camgunz 8y ago
  There are forms of coercion beyond force -- beyond the IRS garnishing your paycheck in this case. I really think coercion discussions are interesting. You might remember when SCOTUS was debating the constitutionality of the ACA, and essentially said everything was fine except the funded Medicaid expansion. The opinion of the court was that the subsidies were too "coercive" and that no state could reasonably decline them even if they had other good reasons for doing so (whatever they might have been... let's stipulate those good reasons exist). The reason I think coercion discussions are interesting is that they tend to reveal bias. It's fundamentally a discussion about whom you have sympathy for. If you have sympathy for lower income people who are burning their money in hopes of the slimmest chance at a better life (honestly though, more like the dopamine high of imagining a better life and escaping their stressful life for 15 seconds at a time) then you'll see the system as coercive. If you think they should wise up and not be so obviously scammed, then you'll think they get what they get. Or in the ACA case. If you have sympathy for the states who are philosophically against the welfare state and you see the Medicare subsidies as an irresistible corrupting (politically speaking, declining Medicaid subsidies when people in your state are dying from lack of medical care is a tough sell) device, then you'll see the system as coercive.