What kind of an America would we suddenly create if the President were to sign into law a health care bill with a mandate to buy private insurance? An America where millions would be covered, but bankrupt, broke, financially kaput. And unhealthy, too.
Wait--what?
You guessed it. All the fever-pitched, media-amplified ranting about "death" that has dominated the health care debate has likely done little more than obscure the ultimate sticking point for many Americans: a bill that would mandate--require by law--all Americans to buy private health insurance.
Make no mistake: the health insurance mandate would not be like the mandate to drive the speed limit. It would not just be a clever idea that nobody really followed. It would be law. There would be fines for not heeding it--and steeper penalties for shirking the fines.
And here is the kicker: a mandate for health insurance would, if signed into law by President Obama, would take the already flawed business model of health insurance and turn it into a perfect storm of financial and then physical ruin.
Right now we have a system that requires the government to cover those who are indigent and those who are elderly--Medicaid and Medicare--thanks to the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society. There is a selfish bunch of Americans who are opposed to Medicaid and Medicare, but most see their value through their flaws. Despite the horror stories about "death panels" and "killing granny" (none of which are true), if the current health care bill were signed into law, poor and retired Americans will still be covered in the same way as they are today.
The big change will be for the rest of the country that would suddenly be faced with an unprecedented and up-to-that-point not understood requirement.
Everyone would be required to buy an annual health insurance policy for ourselves and our family members--dictated by government to purchase a private product.
Now, advocates for a mandate assure us that it would lower costs because it would plug the "leaks" in the insurance "pool." They also claim that there is already a mandate in the auto insurance market, and it has not caused anybody any harm.
In reality, there is no such thing as a coverage "pool" that does not leak. ......
The private insurance industry--probably the most sophisticated industry in history--will have no trouble developing precisely the kind of products that will feed off the short term concerns of middle class families. Families of four that earn enough money to feel like they are doing well, but not enough to pay $10,000 for a health care policy, will be enticed to buy policies that help them "save money," "control their costs," "take control," "get rich." It does not take much imagination to see how well these kinds of late-night-TV products would succeed. They would be the junk bonds of health insurance, the sub-prime mortgages of health care, the "Rich Dad" videos of the mandate era. They would fuel a health care bubble, and then, inevitably: a health care bust.
Five, maybe ten years, after the system started, we would be faced with our first financial crisis brought on by the mandate. ...
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Think about it: What would be the one way to guarantee that your insurance premiums would not rise--a common method that millions of Americans use every day? Carry insurance, but avoid any situation where it would come into play.
So, even though these Americans at risk had insurance, millions would have figured out that the best way to avoid a personal financial crisis would be to avoid the doctor and hospitals altogether.
It would be a strange new world, indeed: a world of unhealthy people with health insurance--people whose solution to the financial dangers imposed on them by the mandate and an unregulated private insurance market would be to shift the risk from their household balance sheets to their medical files.
A mandate would mean health insurance, but bankruptcy--coverage, but bad health. ...
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