Halfway Across the Bridge

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

I've not read the new health care law in its entirety. I don't know all the effects it will have on our country. But, I've read excerpts and I have some educated guesses:

- Because young people, who are generally healthy, will now be required to purchase health insurance*, their premiums will be unfairly high because the insurance companies will need to pay for their new customers with pre-existing conditions and the elderly. Young people will voice their unhappiness and government will subsidise, thus raising the cost to the taxpayer.

- Because companies will be required to provide health insurance if they grow bigger than 50 employees, they will actively try to remain at 49 for as long as possible. This could involve splitting into 2 companies and growing independently. Tension will arise as the government tries to punish these companies and costly legal proceedings will further reduce the efficiency of our economy while the growth of small businesses is slowed.

- Because large companies are now required to cover all employees, they will become less profitable and will either lay off employees to compensate or they will have less money to invest in growth. Either way, the US economy will take a hit.

- Because companies want to avoid adding costlier employees (or want to stay at 49 employees), temp agencies will see a rise in demand. This will create an unnaturally large population of people without job security, working day to day or project to project. This will further dampen economic growth as these people hesitate to make long term investments, like buying a house.

- The large number of citizens with newly minted insurance will overwhelm the health infrastructure. Previously, these people were given care after they became sick (in ERs or free clinics). Now, they will have access to preventative care, optional procedures and regular check-ups. This will both increase the cost of health care in the US as a percentage of GDP and will also bring about some form of rationing. Not death panels, but rationing.

- Once the new health care law has been in effect for some time (2-5 years), like any government intrusion into a market, people will become disgruntled with the service and costs will skyrocket. Health care will go from 15% of GDP to 20% to 25%.

Left leaning politicians will then play the next card ... nationalization of health care. They will proclaim that capitalism has again failed (!) and the country will dutifully cross the rest of the bridge.

Bottom line: this plan is unsustainable and I am convinced that is by design. The left knows that the demonization of capitalism is almost complete and that society has an inexplicable tendency to attenuate its own freedoms. They will need to break health care before they can, in their minds, fix it and realize their dream of a single payer, government run system.

Obamacare is not a tool, it's a weapon.


* Insurance is no longer the right word. Since the insurance companies are no longer permitted to evaluate risk and exclude people, we now have a shared health care pool.