Walking Down Memory Lane

Sometimes we here at InsureBlog like to step in the time machine and see what was, what might have been, and what was predicted (or promised).

This 2008 post by Bob Laszewski has some interesting, and scary, views on what we all know as Obamacare.

 “Let’s get this entitlement expansion bill (Obamacare) passed and it will force us to deal with costs later.” If we don’t now have the political courage to face daunting health care costs in the face of exploding deficits how will we have that courage later?

I will suggest that adding 30 million more people to an unsustainable system expecting it will create an even bigger crisis and thereby force real reform is tantamount to reboarding the Titanic in the hopes it will sink faster. It is also hard to see how doing such a thing is the politically courageous thing to do.

Health and Policy Market

Reboarding the Titanic. How is that for a visual?

Proponents of the Democratic health care bill make the claim that it will make health insurance affordable, improve our deficit outlook, and make our health insurance system sustainable. None of those claims are even close to being true and everyone who knows anything about this debate knows that.

We haven't even turned the page on 2014 and already it is quite apparent the plan is not working out as promised.

Obama would provide premium subsidies to individuals and families who are not eligible for employer-based care or a government program. Just how much these subsidies would be is not indicated. In Massachusetts, thousands of families have been exempted from that state's mandate to buy coverage because subsidies are inadequate for those making too much to qualify or too little to still afford coverage.

Exempted from coverage because there was not enough money to provide subsidies? Say it ain't so!

Obama would be successful in getting most of the uninsured covered and securing coverage for those that now have it. But when it comes to crafting a system that will not continue to outstrip the rest of the economy in what it costs, I see no evidence that he has tackled the drivers in health care costs—in fact he has likely poured some highly inflationary “gas on the fire” by adding tens of billions more to the system with no effective cost containment features to offset the new inflationary pressures.

Want to read more? Step in to our time machine and travel back to 2008 by following this link to the days before Obamacare became a reality.