“The only thing government needs to regulate is basic fiduciary statutes as would be done for any insurance company.”
That would be fine for higher income people.
But if lower income people are going to get federal money for federal subsidies, the federal government is not going to want to pay a $100/month subsidy for the “cable TV anti-depression plan” offered by Comcast with free vaccinations and one doctor visit annually.
As long as there is no federal penalty and coverage minimum, you could buy any coverage your state allows to be sold. You might also be able to buy coverage over the Internet from a foreign insurance company.
There are two major issues we are concerned with:
1. getting rid of the PPACA penalty
2. affordable coverage for those of modest incomes
If you can pay for your own coverage, issue 1 is your only problem.
We have to make progress on issue 2 too. Some of us have modest incomes.
It has to be understood that Republican leaning voters are a minority. We need to win votes from leftist-leaning voters by solving their problems.
To say successfully vote for a reduction in growth in Medicaid and then be tossed out of office in 2018 would actually get us no place but in the doghouse.
We have to steer the medical industrial complex to a less costly structure. It has to be done in modest steps that have little negative impact and strong positive impact.
Again, nothing is going to make the cost come down except by ending all government interference in insurance plan coverage. That is what drove the cost up into the stratosphere.
It doesn’t matter what kind of tinkering you do, as long as politicians are buying votes with other people’s money by legislating mandatory coverage of this, that and the kitchen sink, the cost will continue to go up.
It’s time for the government to get out of the insurance game and work on bringing down the cost of actual medical care by increasing the number of doctors.
The economic illiteracy of all this sturm and drang is staggering. We are doomed.