Tuesday, December 14, 2010

End Of Obamacare?

A federal judge has ruled that the requirement of all individuals to buy health insurance violates the constitution. I am not enough of a legal scholar to determine if that assessment is correct, much less if it will be held up in the Surpreme court.

But what is clear is that if this component is killed, then this will eventually mean the end of the other components, including the ban on refusing insurance on "pre-existing conditions". Because if health insurance is voluntary while insurance companies can't deny it on the basis of "pre-existing conditions" then healthy people will choose to go uninsured until they need it, causing a drop in the number of contributors of the system, something which will raise premiums, something which in turn will cause even more healthy people dropping out.to drop out.

So while the battle is formally only about the individual mandate, it is really about the entire Obamacare scheme.