When Bloomberg Businessweek reports that there are alternatives to the health insurance mandate of the Affordable Care Act, which are better than the very-likely unconstitutional mandate anyway, folks should take note. (Read the details here.) Just what might motivate folks to buy health insurance other than a statutory penalty for not doing so?
Start with Rep. Paul Ryan's tax credits available for an amount likely to cover the cost of premiums for basic coverage. A bit pricey, to be sure, but perhaps less expensive than having Medicaid pay the cost of care for poor, uninsured folks who show up at the emergency room.
Or never providing subsidized government-sponsored care (Medicaid or Medicare) for folks who don't sign up early for their own health insurance. Ouch! Or automatically enrolling folks in a plan unless they opt out. Hard to imagine exactly how that would work.
It seems likely that these alternatives would survive constitutional muster. And given the likelihood that a single-payer system would also be constitutional, it behooves those who oppose Obamacare to support one of them. After all, the adage "Be careful what you wish for" applies as much to politics as the rest of life.
Start with Rep. Paul Ryan's tax credits available for an amount likely to cover the cost of premiums for basic coverage. A bit pricey, to be sure, but perhaps less expensive than having Medicaid pay the cost of care for poor, uninsured folks who show up at the emergency room.
Or never providing subsidized government-sponsored care (Medicaid or Medicare) for folks who don't sign up early for their own health insurance. Ouch! Or automatically enrolling folks in a plan unless they opt out. Hard to imagine exactly how that would work.
It seems likely that these alternatives would survive constitutional muster. And given the likelihood that a single-payer system would also be constitutional, it behooves those who oppose Obamacare to support one of them. After all, the adage "Be careful what you wish for" applies as much to politics as the rest of life.
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