The Briefing Room
General Category => Health/Education => Topic started by: pjohns on January 02, 2014, 07:03:19 am
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Charles Krauthammer, on FNC's Special Report Wednesday, had an interesting observation: He believes that ObamaCare will be essentially gutted in 2014 (even if not entirely repealed), for the following reason:
(1) Adverse selection--i.e. an inordinate percentage of older, sicker people signing up for ObamaCare, as opposed to younger, healthier people doing so--will almost certainly result in the various insurance companies sustaining huge financial losses.
(2) This, in turn, will precipitate a bailout of those insurance companies. (This, in fact, is already allowed, under the terms of ObamaCare itself.)
(3) Legislation will surely be introduced--in fact, it is already under consideration--to prohibit any such bailout from happening.
(4) Democratic lawmakers--especially those who are up for re-election, and who are likely to be engaged in tough races in 2014--will probably support this legislation, practically ensuring that it will pass.
(5) Without this bailout provision of ObamaCare being able to go into effect, the entire policy will be hollowed out--in effect, rendering it virtually certain to fail.
It really makes for an interesting piece of analysis...
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And then, the talk will be about single payer. It's one crisis after another with this administration.
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And then, the talk will be about single payer. It's one crisis after another with this administration.
I truly believe that was the plan all along: President Obama will be able to throw up his hands in (apparent) despair, proclaim that he tried his best--he really did!--but all that is now left is to go to a single-payer system, since the status quo ante proved deficient for many people.
Personally, I would welcome this debate. Although I oppose a single-payer system (such as Canada and Europe have, for instance), it is possible, at least, to mount an intellectual defense of that system--to claim that it is the best of all possible healthcare systems--whereas it is clearly preposterous to advance a similar claim as regarding ObamaCare.
So let us allow ObamaCare to die, and then let real the debate begin!
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It has always been about single payer.