Posted on 08/03/2013 1:43:23 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
TWO beliefs continue to shape debate on Obamacare. First, pre-existing medical conditions shouldnt prevent people from obtaining affordable health insurance. And second, people who dont want health insurance shouldnt be forced by the government to purchase it.
These may seem to be reasonable positions. But they are incompatible. Thats been shown by historical events, and its now being strikingly confirmed by recent experience in the emerging Obamacare insurance exchanges.
The crux of the matter is what economists call the adverse-selection problem. Uninsured people with pre-existing conditions often face tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical costs annually. If insurers charged everyone the same rate, buying coverage would be far more attractive financially for people with chronic illnesses than for healthy people. And as healthy policyholders began dropping out of the insured pool, it would become increasingly composed of sick people, forcing insurers to raise their rates.
But higher rates make insurance even less attractive for healthy people, causing even more of them to drop out. Before long, coverage would become too expensive for almost everyone.
The adverse-selection problem explains why almost no countries leave health care provision to unregulated private insurance markets. It also predicts that requiring private insurance companies to charge the same rates to everyone will make it prohibitively expensive for most people to buy individual health insurance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
text massages,
Can I get one those. :)
Ditto, Jim. Well said.
The headline is an F’ing lie!
same here. This is my line in the sand. done
Hear, Hear!!
Filing tax returns is so 1970s....
Aaaahhh, the kewl turtleneck professor. Same shirt, with and without the facial hair,
or view video by Aaron Russo
Freedom to Facism
There is already a shortage of physicians in the US...
Maybe in the future, we will have to import
“bare foot” doctors from Cuba...
Indeed. Buuuump!
I don’t think anyone should get too worked up about buying Obamacare insurance. It’s designed so you don’t need to buy insurance until you get really sick anyway, at which point it will be a bargain, no matter what the costs. Sort of like buying casualty insurance only after your house catches on fire.
And during the first few years of Obamacare, the “fines” are trivial, and even later you can avoid actually paying the fine if you always under withhold your tax payments because there is no means to collect the fine except from any excess withholdings.
And I think this is pretty much how it’s going to play out. Its how socialism works: take as much as you can from the system and give as little back as possible. Thats what to each according to their needs and from each according to their ability really boils down to, namely everyone has infinite needs and very few have much ability.
The only benefactors of this sort of scheme ARE the Leftists, the Communists. It’s all about control, which IS power, and power is wealth for those in power.
That what I think
” - - - ObamaCare is unconstitutional and unAmerican. Obviously and for good reason, the constitution does not authorize the federal government to be in the health care business or the insurance business. - - - “
Very well said, Jim.
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
— James Madison, father of the United States Constitution
The exemptions are a different issue altogether. The 2700+ exemptions granted by HHS were to employers exempting them from the employer mandate, which is now delayed by one year. All of the employees of the exempted businesses are still subject to the individual mandate. While problematic and a crock of crap, the exemptions have no bearing on individual participation in the exchanges.
If you’re enrolled in TRICARE or the Veterans health care program, you’re considered covered under the health care law. You don’t need to make any changes.
https://www.healthcare.gov/if-im-a-military-veteran-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-marketplace/
Why don’t I believe them?
“Obama was truthful on this. He said in very beginning that he favored a univeral, single payer system. He also said this Obamacare was only the first step to reach his goal.”
I tend to agree about the misplaced anger. The voters who put Barack over the top the second time were primed with talk about how Mitt would have taken free pie away from them. How Mitt would make it more possible for them to get their own pie (and better pie) was not discussed.
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