Explain this to me

Regarding Grimp's earlier post on the potential "fees" (read: tax) on insurance companies as a way to "defray costs" of the public insurance plan:
I can one-up you.

How about a "fine" (read: tax), administered by the IRS, who become the defacto insurance cops, on people who don't buy health insurance. Individual mandates, this is called. Which is Washington-speak for "we're from the government and we're here to help".

A bipartisan group of senators huddled in the afternoon to decide whether to move forward on an overhaul plan that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) began circulating over the weekend. The plan includes some of the stiffest penalties Congress has proposed for Americans who don’t carry health insurance coverage.

So the "public option" is out in the Senate version of the bill, but an enforced tax on families who don't purchase health insurance (which is, by nature, a completely voluntary act) is in.

So if I don't have insurance currently because I can't afford it or don't need it, you're going to fine me anywhere from $750 to $3800 if I don't go ahead and pay for something I already can't afford or don't need.

Yeah, makes sense to me.