“That’s insane. Without the individual mandate, Obamacare collapses like a house of cards. It becomes financially unsustainable. It is the linchpin of the entire bill. “
Correct.
The house of cards is the forcing of insurance companies to accept preexisting conditions without jacking up rates.
Force insurance companies to do that, and people will ‘game’ the system to take insurance only after they need it. Hence the mandate.
Correct - without the mandate [and the rest of the law remains in effect] , the insurance companies would NEVER gone along with it - otherwise, it is uneconomical and will bankrupt them ...
If the mandate is found unconstitutional - one of two things [or both] are gonna happen ...
1. The insurance companies are going to use their lobbying power to get Congress to repeal the provisions for covering people with pre-existing conditions, covering children up to age 26, etc.
2. The insurance companies are goig to jack rates to cover items in Item #1, above ...