Destroying Private Health Insurance Without the Public Option

If the behavior of the democrats on the Hill was any more bizarre I'd begin to think that they were intentionally trying to screw......................WAIT A MINUTE.

Take the Baucus Bill for example. According to the CBO, under the Baucus plan, "insurers would have to accept all applicants, could not limit coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, and could not vary premiums to reflect differences in enrollees' health." Now that really is peculiar, you say -- mandating that insurers charge the person who is in perfect health at the same rate as the person with a serious illness. Well yes it is. In fact it doesn't really sound like INSURANCE at all, does it? I think we need to check the dictionary on this.

Merriam-Webster's defines insurance (noun) as:

1: a the business of insuring persons or property b : coverage by contract whereby one party undertakes to indemnify or guarantee another against loss by a specified contingency or peril c : the sum for which something is insured
2: a means of guaranteeing protection or safety insurance against price changes

How can there be any possible loss if the person wouldn't be required to pay an extra price should this contingency arise? Under the Baucus plan there would be no penalty for not buying insurance, should one become ill.

It seems to me that under Max Baucus' Bill, health insurance isn't really health insurance at all anymore, is it? I know what you're saying -- health insurance isn't really health insurance now. Right, it's more like health maintenance/insurance. Much of what is deducted from your paycheck is pre-payment for routine maintenance. Routine visits to the doctor that everyone makes. A move TOWARD "pure health insurance", not away from it, would actually be a positive step to take in improving our health care system.

So though part of what is deducted from your paycheck is NOT for health INSURANCE, part of what is deducted IS. And if the Baucus Bill goes through there will be a strong disincentive to purchase this health maintenance/insurance, because you could simply just wait until you need it and buy it then. And as for the routine maintenance, you could just pay out-of-pocket at the local clinic. Despite what our esteemed representatives on Capitol Hill believe, Americans are rather resourceful when it comes to matters of the pocketbook. You think they aren't going to figure this out? Dream on.

Younger people will have an especially easy time figuring this out, as their rates will almost certainly rise due to the Baucus' requirement that they pay 1/4 as much in premiums as older people. Young people in some states cost as little as 1/17 the amount to insure as older people. Even older folks will have an incentive to jump ship, because though they spend more time in the doctors office, they also pay higher premiums.

They had better set the fines high, because the health insurance industry is going to be losing customers right and..........................WAIT A MINUTE. Aren't these donkeys in DC always talking about how evil those health insurance companies are? Making obscene profits off the back of hardworking Americans. They wouldn't place blame for the skyrocketing premiums that would necessarily result from this exodus (an exodus that THEY would have caused), on these evil private insurers? They wouldn't see this as the perfect opportunity to nationalize the entire health care system, would they? No, they wouldn't do that. Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel would NEVER try to take advantage of a crisis like that?

And there you have it, the poison pill. The other, MORE devious way to skin this capitalist cat. Perhaps they should have taken this approach right from the get go. Why not delay the talk of a public option until such time where any discussion of its efficacy would simply be a moot point? Was it a preoccupation with shoving it in the face of conservatives that had them pursuing a public option (those damn knuckle-draggers and their townhallls)? Did they believe that their base was too stupid to understand (wink, nod) that this would, indeed, accomplish their goals of nationalized health care?

But alas, even without a public option, this gang of merry saboteurs has succeeded in devising a plot that will fatally poison the private insurance market as sure as you can say, "the Obama's tend to stretch the truth a bit." Looking to save some money in a very tough economic time, people will start leaping out of the private insurance market. As a consequence of this, costs to private insurers go up, and they in turn raise the price of premiums to recoup this lost revenue. This rise in rates then drives more people out of the market--the snowballing begins--and in comes Uncle Sam on his big white horse (red, painted white actually) with the answer. And the answer won't be a public option. More like a public takeover.

What's truly breathtaking to behold, is that this bill would succeed in this regard, were it only to have this ONE provision: making insurers accept all applicants, and offer them full coverage at the same rate, regardless of whether or not they have a pre-existing condition.

So why deal with the hassle of all of those inane republican complaints that accompany this current larger version (no one can read it, no one can understand it, etc.)? Well, because they think you're dumb, but not THAT dumb (and obfuscation is their game). And besides being able to hide this little kernel of fiendish genius, this colossal bill allows them to throw a few more wrenches into the system (i.e. taxes) that absolutely insure (pardon the pun) the plans success in sabotaging the private health insurance industry.

Now the passage of this bill and it's implementation are by no means inevitable, but given the lack of political awareness in this country, and with the presence of a complicit MSM, it may just be a stroke of Machiavellian brilliance. Leave it to a democratic politician to come up with a scheme like this. Hide the women and children and oppose EVERYTHING these people try to pass off on you, because they are playing for keeps.