The insurance companies will be sucking tailpipe if the mandates collapse.
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The grave concern is that this fiasco will be allowed to run until it completely bankrupts and destroys the private insurance industry, leaving only substandard medicare (single payer).
Actually, Medicare is not single payer. Medicare recipients can purchase private Medicare Advantage plans under part C (private insurance subsidized by the federal government). They can purchase unsubsidized supplemental insurance to get a better grade of care than avaialable through standard Medicare. Finally, there is Medicare Part D, the Rx drug program, which is subsidized but is entirely a set of private insurance plans.
The closest to single payer that exists in the US is Medicaid, not Medicare. Most of the Obamacare enrollments have been in Medicaid. Yes, this was by design. Medicaid is horrible- I wouldn’t put my worst enemy on it. It is indeed a single payer system insofar as a recipient can’t supplement the benefits with private plans or cash payment out of pocket.
I don’t know if Insurance companies need be bankrupted; my impression is that they tried to jack prices higher than need be to take advantage of the coercive legislative cover Obamacare provides for their mega profit schemes. They’ll need to offer competitive pricing and moderate their deductibles in order to attract business.
Auto Insurance has coercive legislation forcing all those who own cars to have insurance but with a plethora of Insurance companies out there, the pricing has to be competitive and affordable.
I’m not worried about the insurance industry collapsing, after all they participated in this attempt to destroy our country. We will just begin our own “pools” and insurance will be reborn without the creeps who attempted to destroy us.