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For Obamacare to Work, Everyone Must Be In
NY Times ^ | Aug 3, 2013 | By ROBERT H. FRANK

Posted on 08/03/2013 1:43:23 PM PDT by Jim Robinson

TWO beliefs continue to shape debate on Obamacare. First, pre-existing medical conditions shouldn’t prevent people from obtaining affordable health insurance. And second, people who don’t want health insurance shouldn’t be forced by the government to purchase it.

These may seem to be reasonable positions. But they are incompatible. That’s been shown by historical events, and it’s now being strikingly confirmed by recent experience in the emerging Obamacare insurance exchanges.

The crux of the matter is what economists call the adverse-selection problem. Uninsured people with pre-existing conditions often face tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical costs annually. If insurers charged everyone the same rate, buying coverage would be far more attractive financially for people with chronic illnesses than for healthy people. And as healthy policyholders began dropping out of the insured pool, it would become increasingly composed of sick people, forcing insurers to raise their rates.

But higher rates make insurance even less attractive for healthy people, causing even more of them to drop out. Before long, coverage would become too expensive for almost everyone.

The adverse-selection problem explains why almost no countries leave health care provision to unregulated private insurance markets. It also predicts that requiring private insurance companies to charge the same rates to everyone will make it prohibitively expensive for most people to buy individual health insurance.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; communism; deathpanels; dictator; fascism; marxism; obama; obamacare; socialism; tyranny; unamerican; unconstitutional; zerocare
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To: onyx

“ text massages,”

Can I get one those. :)


81 posted on 08/03/2013 3:35:39 PM PDT by Clyde5445
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To: Jim Robinson

Ditto, Jim. Well said.


82 posted on 08/03/2013 3:45:06 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Jim Robinson

The headline is an F’ing lie!


83 posted on 08/03/2013 3:51:02 PM PDT by stockpirate (American taxpayer's are: The New World Order slaves for the collective.)
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To: humblegunner

same here. This is my line in the sand. done


84 posted on 08/03/2013 3:58:54 PM PDT by sopwith (LIVE FREE OR DIE)
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To: Jim Robinson

Hear, Hear!!


85 posted on 08/03/2013 5:22:05 PM PDT by penelopesire (TIME FOR OBAMA TO ANSWER FOR BENGHAZI UNDER OATH!!)
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To: elkfersupper

Filing tax returns is so 1970s....


86 posted on 08/03/2013 5:43:48 PM PDT by SisterK (RIP America)
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To: kcvl

Aaaahhh, the kewl turtleneck professor. Same shirt, with and without the facial hair,


87 posted on 08/03/2013 5:45:36 PM PDT by I_be_tc
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To: bkaycee; elkfersupper

or view video by Aaron Russo
Freedom to Facism


88 posted on 08/03/2013 5:47:43 PM PDT by SisterK (RIP America)
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To: Sooth2222

There is already a shortage of physicians in the US...

Maybe in the future, we will have to import
“bare foot” doctors from Cuba...


89 posted on 08/03/2013 5:49:54 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Jim Robinson

Indeed. Buuuump!


90 posted on 08/03/2013 7:10:10 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Jim Robinson

I don’t think anyone should get too worked up about buying Obamacare insurance. It’s designed so you don’t need to buy insurance until you get really sick anyway, at which point it will be a bargain, no matter what the costs. Sort of like buying casualty insurance only after your house catches on fire.

And during the first few years of Obamacare, the “fines” are trivial, and even later you can avoid actually paying the fine if you always under withhold your tax payments because there is no means to collect the fine except from any excess withholdings.

And I think this is pretty much how it’s going to play out. It’s how socialism works: take as much as you can from the system and give as little back as possible. That’s what “to each according to their needs and from each according to their ability” really boils down to, namely everyone has infinite needs and very few have much ability.


91 posted on 08/03/2013 8:10:16 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Jim Robinson

The only benefactors of this sort of scheme ARE the Leftists, the Communists. It’s all about control, which IS power, and power is wealth for those in power.


92 posted on 08/03/2013 8:16:37 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will. They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: Jim Robinson
Maybe obamacare was never intended to work.
93 posted on 08/03/2013 8:29:40 PM PDT by Bon of Babble (Due to the current economic situation, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off!!)
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To: Bon of Babble

That what I think


94 posted on 08/03/2013 8:30:52 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Jim Robinson

” - - - ObamaCare is unconstitutional and unAmerican. Obviously and for good reason, the constitution does not authorize the federal government to be in the health care business or the insurance business. - - - “

Very well said, Jim.


95 posted on 08/03/2013 8:34:42 PM PDT by Graewoulf (Traitor John Roberts' Commune-Style Obama'care' violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: Jim Robinson

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

— James Madison, father of the United States Constitution


96 posted on 08/03/2013 8:39:19 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: matt04
I have a feeling the Union bosses got the exemptions, not the people they “represent.”

The exemptions are a different issue altogether. The 2700+ exemptions granted by HHS were to employers exempting them from the employer mandate, which is now delayed by one year. All of the employees of the exempted businesses are still subject to the individual mandate. While problematic and a crock of crap, the exemptions have no bearing on individual participation in the exchanges.

97 posted on 08/03/2013 8:47:53 PM PDT by RobertClark (My shrink just killed himself - he blamed me in his note!)
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To: Jim Robinson

If you’re enrolled in TRICARE or the Veterans health care program, you’re considered covered under the health care law. You don’t need to make any changes.
https://www.healthcare.gov/if-im-a-military-veteran-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-marketplace/

Why don’t I believe them?


98 posted on 08/03/2013 10:24:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I aim to raise a million plus for Gov. Palin. What'll you do?.)
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To: elpadre

“Obama was truthful on this. He said in very beginning that he favored a univeral, single payer system. He also said this Obamacare was only the first step to reach his goal.”


It’s not the truth. It’s wordplay. A “single payer system” for THIS country, has dark undertones. He has said alot of things that HORDES of sheeple believed. And they believed it enough to vote for him. Twice....which I believe was a vote totally controlled by misplaced anger.


99 posted on 08/04/2013 12:57:34 AM PDT by ourworldawry
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To: ourworldawry

I tend to agree about the misplaced anger. The voters who put Barack over the top the second time were primed with talk about how Mitt would have taken free pie away from them. How Mitt would make it more possible for them to get their own pie (and better pie) was not discussed.


100 posted on 08/04/2013 1:00:22 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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