[steve86]

All the anecdotal reports in the media were of people who were already insured going onto the exchange to try and get a subsidy, such as a pre-Medicare retiree and a college student. Insurance was never that expensive or hard-to-get.

It was expensive and hard or impossible to get for those with pre-existing conditions, a group you've completely ignored yet makes up a big chunk of those eager for new coverage.

[JediJones]

Not true. There were high risk pools available for them. And as Gallup has shown, there is no “big chunk” of the uninsured eager to sign up. No “big chunk” of any kind is trying to sign up. Just a small portion. And seeing how very few uninsured people actually wanted coverage just underlines the fact that this massive takeover bill was not necessary. A narrower and cheaper measure that negatively affected no one else could’ve been drafted to solve the small problem of the truly uninsurable.

The issue of people getting “free rider” care at emergency rooms won’t be solved by this bill. They still show up at ERs under Romneycare in much higher numbers than before it passed. And those irresponsible people will not even think about the tax until it happens, if the IRS is able to collect it from them at all.