Daredevils have been going over the Niagara Falls for over a century. Sometimes in a barrel. Sometimes not. Sometimes they survive. Sometimes not. Curiously, the results of the plunge rarely live up to expectations.
Despite the risks, and the known history of this stunt, people continue to try it to this day.
Which brings us to the fiscal waterfall that is Obamacare.
The Washington Post has a story on the
impending massive rate hikes that young people are about to experience.
The result: Older, sicker people will pay lower premiums. Younger, healthier people will pay higher ones to make up the difference.
The price of a policy for a young, healthy man in, for instance,
Milwaukee, could triple from $58 per month to $175, according to a
survey of insurers released by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the
American Action Forum, a center-right think tank, and a former director
of the Congressional Budget Office.
Curiously, the above is not precisely news to those that were paying attention when Obamacare was first passed into law. It has been clear from the beginning that the intent of this nationalized health care system was to take money from the young and the healthy only to give it to the poor and the less well.
But we were promised that we could keep our current doctor and current insurance plan if we were happy with them. Of course that promise did not stop my physician from buckling under the new federal regulatory burdens to end up selling his practice to our local mega-hospital. The story above is really focused on people that have to buy individual health insurance. It doesn't really apply to those that obtain insurance via our employers.
Right?
It has become very clear to everyone involved who is analytical and
not ideological that the rational strategy, for both large and small
firms, is to cease providing health care insurance to employees.
No company wants to admit that they are considering eliminating
health insurance as an option, or be the first one to drop their
health insurance plan, but once a competitor does so, the preference
cascade will begin. The clear sentiment is “We will not be the first
one to drop our health insurance plan, but we would be a close second.”
The coming preference cascade for employer group health plans is what
the Democrats fear the most, because Obamacare was sold to the masses
as “if you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it.”
The people who really know the law, and who have been following the
avalanche of regulations, have already figured this out. It will take a
while for this specialized knowledge to seep downward, because right
now only $800+ an hour ERISA attorneys and the most sophisticated HR
people understand how Obamacare really works.
The fruits of government action have long been known by anyone with the least interest in history. Those fruits inevitably cause costs to rise and access/quality to fall. Government will...once again...break our rhetorical legs and then expect gratitude for the crutches it offers.
The result of socialism is as predictable as the seasons. It is to create an equality of poverty by destroying the means of producing wealth.
When the current scheme fails...a result of which I have no doubt...will the government advocate a return to free(er) markets? Or will they say that he problem is that we did not cede enough power over our private lives to the federal nanny?
