“If you have a one time window for people to purchase their own private insurance, regardless of Pre Existing conditions, with a mandatory 12 month waiting period for benefits on the PEC, I can see it (although it is wrong). But forcing insurers to pay for care on PEC’s knowingly and permanently will put them out of business.”
I read that insurers would accept this onorous regulation so long as they get captive customers ... which they get with *MANDATES*.
I agree that this level of heavy regulation will in effect end the free market in health insurance (what little exists in our overregulated system). YOu’ll get the insurance the govt mandates you have.
My takeaway: THE REAL END TO HEALTHCARE CHOICE OCCURS WHEN YOU IMPOSE MANDATES. The crucial problem with ObamaCare is MANDATES, a concept almost as bad a Public Option.
Yeah, the whole issue is akin to stepping thru a minefield. If they follow Kyl’s suggested framework, HSA’s combined with across state line sales, tort reform, and group pooling, that would lower cost of insurance. But the problem is the retreads who won’t work and pay for their own.
If everyone pays, the system works fine and costs come down. But if the uninsured and non-paying remain just that, the costs remain necessarily high because the payers are covering the non payers.
The even more major problem though is that Obama has no genuine interest in Health Care. He is interested in government control. He won’t be interested in anything that doesn’t provide government control. That is why, as much as we need reform, the best thing is to kill the bill and come back to it when Sarah Palin is elected in ‘12.
States that have mandatory liability insurance also have “assigned risk” pools, with high premiums for minimum coverage. Good behavior lets these bad risks out of the AR pool and back into the regular market.
The Medicare D plan does not force us geezers to buy in to a qualified plan, but if we drop out for a year, our new premiums are higher when we return.
If you carry insurance when you are young and healthy, you should pay less for it later on. If you carry it continuously, you should never be dropped due to your health.
And health insurance premiums should be deductible ONLY by the individual, not the employer. That way the insurance could be made portable.
Going without insurance SHOULD raise the price when you do buy in,