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A health industry expert on the fundamental problem with Obamacare
A dialog between a health-care industry expert and Ezra Klein. I am surprised this appeared in The Washington Post.I think the mandate is almost worthless because the word is getting around that they cant really collect it. And by year three, its really a lot of money. I think therell be real pressure to just get rid of it. I dont think you can force people to buy this insurance. If they dont want it therell be a political groundswell to get rid of it. So in my mind the individual mandate is kind of irrelevant to this. If the mandate goes and the "tax" is unenforceable, Obamacare will probably be weakened to the extent it goes down the dumper. I think its all about whether they have confidence in Obamacare or not. The mandate will be effective for free riders. No one has a problem penalizing people who dont pay their fair share. But if Obamacare hasnt been sold to the American people as something they should want then the mandate will just be rubbing salt in the wound and therell be enormous political pressure to get rid of it. So I think this gets back to whether the American people end up accepting obamacare or not. I am really concerned that the uninsured who are healthy are not finding Obamacare the value they hoped it will be. Thats the real risk for Obamacare. Duh! I dont think theres anything they can do for March 31. But as we move to 2015 open enrollment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has some power to reshape the plans. The mandated benefits are so high theyve driven costs up and created narrower networks. The statute talks about actuarial levels so the Secretary cant just do anything she wants. But given a combination of regulatory authority and what the Obama administration has been willing to do already in overriding statute, I think they could do some pretty significant things. Yeah, if they choose to ignore the Constitution and continue to adopt the law of the cult of personality. I do have a concern that people are looking at these plans and not finding value. Some people are looking at paying 10 percent of their income for plans with huge deductibles, and then you have politics of Obamacare and the bad press of the launch and if you put all those things in a bag and mix them up, I am really concerned that the uninsured who are healthy are not finding Obamacare the value they hoped it will be. Thats the real risk for Obamacare. Ive got $5,000 in premium and all this deductible, what do they want for that? And they probably wouldve said we want office visits and lab tests because the kids need to go in occasionally and then we want catastrophic care. The problem with Obamacare is its product driven and not market driven. They didnt ask the customer what they wanted. And I think thats the fundamental problem with Obamacare. It meets the needs of very poor people because youre giving them health insurance for free. But it doesnt really meet the needs of healthy people and middle-class people. Not market driven is a big problem. I recall reading that the USSR manufactured ugly bras that no self-respecting woman wanted and thus no one bought these ugly bras. They preferred what was available on the black market. Another problem is that Obamacare is government and arrogance (the legacy issue)-driven and that's a big problem. More of the interview at the site. Posted by: JohnQC 2014-01-10 |
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