There has been a lot of talk about mandates emanating from the federal government to force each of us to buy healthcare insurance but what do those mandates do to the insurance itself? And are they even Constitutionally justified?
First of all we need to remind everyone that these mandates cannot possibly be Constitutional. After all, the Constitution does not give Congress the power to demand that the citizens buy a certain product. The Constitution only gives Congress the power to tax, not to serve as an arm of any industry. These mandates will essentially make the federal government an insurance salesman and this is most certainly unconstitutional.
Still, even if we are unfortunate enough to be burdened with this new system, what will it do to our insurance companies?
One thing that will happen is that smaller insurance companies will likely disappear as the new federally forced requirements on what health insurance will cover is promulgated. Being that this is far more a political process than a medical one, Congress will force insurance companies to offer far more services than they normally would for a low-end plan (Such as abortion, transgender services, sex change operations, a full range of mental health services and other such medically unnecessary elective services) This sort of wide coverage will price smaller insurance companies out of business.
Now, one of the supposed goals that Obama has with this socialized healthcare policy is to increase competition. This goal is unreachable, however, if only the largest insurance companies can afford to abide by the lavish new coverage that Congress will force them to offer.
With this policy Obama is essentially colluding with the largest insurance companies to increase their market share and power. This is in direct contravention to his claims and he knows it, too.
Another thing that will happen is that the federal government will be the nation’s defacto insurance company regardless of where you get your insurance. This is because the federal government will be setting all standards, rules, and procedures. Private companies will not be allowed to set the rules for their own businesses.
It might seem as if you are doing business with a private company. Your premiums and bills will be handled by your own insurance company, certainly. But, in truth, the whole industry will be run out of Washington and the individual insurance companies by subsidiaries of the federal government.
It is a false front, a shell game that the government will be perpetrating on the country. The truth is there will be no such thing as a private insurance company once the abomination of Obamacare passes in any of its forms.
Finally there is the unconstitutional “fine” to be forced upon the citizen that refuses to buy a government approved insurance policy. This is not an “excise tax” as the Baucus bill claims it to be. It is a penalty for not participating in a government approved capitalist activity. Again, this is most certainly unconstitutional.
Unconstitutional or not, this Congress is not interested in the rule of law. This Congress is only interested in expanding its power over each of our daily lives.
Conservatives and true Americans everywhere MUST oppose this mad powergrab. It is the single most un-American idea that has come down the pike in decades.
Tags: dailydose, the wining line
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This is a very dangerous period because Nationalization will still occur even without an overt government run insurance plan like this “public option” provision everyone keeps fixating on - everything else contained in the plan is just as dangerous and is not being discussed in any kind of a targeted manner.
Here are the core elements what will be contained in the “health care reform compromise” after the so-called “public option” is in all likelihood dropped; both the Bacus and Wyden-Bennett bill contain all of these items:
(a) Federal Regulation aka HEALTH CZAR/DEATH PANELS/RATIONING
(b) Employer/Individual Mandates aka NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
(c) Government Subsidies aka MIDDLE CLASS MEDICAL WELFARE
With the Federal Government setting the rules, forcing everyone to participate, and is paying the bills for most of the middle class through subsidies how is this anything other than Nationalization?
And it’s clearly a government take-over of health care – only the names are changed to make us feel better about the arrangement. Since the government will be controlling the market and setting the terms, health insurance companies will essentially quasi-governmental agencies that get to administer the plan. They will be controlled in the same manner as GM or CITIGROUP and will be private in name only.
The common thread in all of the so-called “compromise” or bi-partisan plans is the Individual Mandate to force people to buy government dictated health insurance. This needs to be the focus for conservatives now!
Clearly, the Individual Mandate is a gross violation of our liberty and an Unconstitutional Tax – in essence the government is giving no choice in how you get to take care of your own body. These Mandates force everyone in the country into insurance plans that are designed by the Federal Government thus giving them control over everyone’s choices. Mandates also fund the whole plan since they force young and healthy citizens or citizens who prefer to self insure to buy expensive policies that really don’t need and won’t likely use and employers to pay huge taxes (yes, in a lot of cases health insurance make no economic sense and nobody should be forced to buy a product or service they don’t need.) This is a stealth tax on the young and healthy by the government. It allows the politicians to continue to shift the costs of the bankrupt Medicare/Medicaid program by continuing the practice of allowing providers to overcharge private consumers/insurance to make up for those programs payment shortfalls (this will get worse too as there are 500 billion in Medicare cuts in the plan too).
Finally, the Mandates are the carrot that keeps the insurance industry on board with the scheme since they give them millions and millions of new customers – it is basically another big industry bailout (big Health Insurance companies are in great financial distress since they lost heavily in last year’s market collapse and have a disproportionate number of aging “baby-boomer” customers who are getting older and sicker thus more costly – 80 million of their 135 million customers are between the ages of 50-65 years old).
I would strongly advocate to conservatives in the Media/GOP elected officials that they stress three very simple messages:
(1) The Individual Mandates need to be opposed and need to be the center piece of the opposition message - they are the most political unpopular feature of the Obamacare plan and they hold the whole scheme. Simply put, there is no government takeover without Mandates.
(2) Health Insurance Companies need to be called out for receiving Bailout money and a Monopoly Market. Health Insurance execs are politically unpopular and this would put the GOP/Opponents on the side of the people and not the special interests. We conservatives have a responsibility to defend the concept of insurance and free markets but not the current government and special interest distorted market.
(3) Obamacare is a corrupt bargain that benefits big government, powerful Washington politicians, big union, and big companies/industry at the expense (once again) of the taxpayer, small business, the elderly, and the young.
Particularly, Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate need to understand this as many of the “compromise” plans being discussed contain all of these elements. They need to be forced to go on record as not only opposing the “government option” but these Employer/Individual Mandates too before they fall into the trap of thinking they are acceptable and not government run health care. The “free rider” argument makes little sense too as an excuse for conservatives to fall for supporting the Individual Mandate - we should not accept this excuse from our elected representative. Basically, the total amount of uncompensated care by the uninsured equates to about 3% of total health care spending in this country. This is a very small cost to pay to keep our own individual liberty and choices as a free people.
Individual Mandates to buy private insurance sound like a “free market” solution and “individual responsibility” but in this context they are not – they are simply a front for a government run system. Again, the common thread in every liberal/statist health care bill is the Individual Mandate. To see it in action, look no further then how these Mandates in MA work to give government full control and to skyrocket costs. Many conservatives can be easily fooled by this faux “private” front (Mitt Romney was) – there needs to be united conservative opposition to Mandates now!
[...] (Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.) [...]
[...] (Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.) [...]
[...] posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.) ____________ Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion [...]
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