Dean Baker on the mandate: "The industry wants the government to force you to pay them money"

[brentspeak]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/17/insurance_mandates_what_about_president_obamas_cam/?ref=c1

...everyone should clearly understand where the mandates come from. They are put there at the insistence of the insurance industry. The industry wants the government to force you to pay them money and they have enough pull in Congress to get their way.

[ProSense]

1. "To be clear, there is a real logic to a mandate...

To be clear, there is a real logic to a mandate. If we prevent insurers from turning people down based on pre-existing conditions or even charging them higher rates, then there will be an enormous incentive for healthy people to remain uninsured. They could avoid paying for insurance until they actually develop a health problem that requires costly care. Then they could buy into the system and leave the insurers with a big bill.

In this scenario, the insurance market quickly breaks down. Only the very sick ever sign up for insurance, costing the industry much more than they collect in premiums. This is the reason for the mandate. It prevents this process of adverse selection where only the sickest actually get insurance.

That's before the "but," which isn't a real but. He's basically saying a mandate will eventually be needed.

[Armstead]

6. It;'s all about protecting the insurance industry

A mandate (with payments based on income) would make sense for a government run public program based on providing service and not reaping obscene profits.

[brentspeak]

7. "(Obama's earlier) argument (against the mandate) made sense back then and it makes sense today"

You apparently missed that part of Baker's article.

[Jamastiene]

10. We can try to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house....

"I mean, if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house. The reason they don’t buy a house is they don’t have the money. "

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoSnqofelsQ

[depakid]

11. "why should progressives want to do the bidding of the insurance industry? "

Everyone knows that we will have to come back to address many issues in the health care system. We can leave the mandate for another day. This would just be going back to President Obama's position in the primaries. His argument made sense back then and it makes sense today.

It may not be possible to get a bill through Congress without the mandates, but everyone should clearly understand where the mandates come from. They are put there at the insistence of the insurance industry. The industry wants the government to force you to pay them money and they have enough pull in Congress to get their way.

The administration's complicity in this- at the expense of just about everything else that was structurally worthwhile in the bill is what everyone's hopping mad about.

Indeed- if this were a Republican bill- most everyone here would be hollering for a filibuster (and the same suspects would be crossing over to support Republicans).

[eridani]

14. There is no logic to a mandate that does not guarnatee CARE, period

Forcing people to buy useless underinsurance to useless non-producers who decide whether to pay for actual care on a whim, and after they have put you through their paperwork hell.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Really, aren't we already forced to pay them money, most of us?

It's our money or our lives, as it is. Some people don't, but most of them aren't doing it to be mavericky anti-corporatists.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. Exactly.

The legions of healthy young people with gobs of excess cash who are uninsured by choice are largely mythical.

[eridani]

15. That ought to be considered a problem to be fixed, not to be made worse n/t

[TwilightGardener]

16. There's no getting out of paying money. Either to Uncle Sam, or BCBS.

It's just a matter of how big a chunk it takes out of your income. I'd rather cut out the middleman and have it taken by taxes, because that would be the most cost-effective, but that's not the system we have now (except for the elderly, poor, disabled, and military).

[eridani]

17. I know. The point is to get rid of the shitty system

If it kills and bankrupts people now, anyone who says "it's just the system we have now" is simply advocating more of the same. Except now we have to live in poverty before the inevitable.

[Laelth]

3. k&r for the truth, however depressing. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[opihimoimoi]

4. The GOP speaks for them, works for them, and plots/scams for them assholes

Excessive profits is not good for Society in General...

[Garam_Masala]

8. I thought we have 60 senators?

[opihimoimoi]

12. A few are anti advancement and vote stagnation...enough to sway shit THEIR WAY

Our numbers are corrupted by Pub Molls and Trolls driven by mega monies protecting self interest..they are ALL IN on this one...

Like a spoiled kid, the GOP DEMAND THEIR SAY AND WAY.... period.

Tantrums follow with excuses to be MAD....

[Mojambo]

5. In the entire process there's never even been a hint of compromise on the mandate.

That should give a very clear idea of just who is really running this show.

[slipslidingaway]

13. And the mandates are rarely mentioned by the Democrats when the ...

summarize the important points.

:puke:

[slipslidingaway]

18. kick n/t

[treestar]

19. The insurance companies are against it because they are mandated

to take people they didn't want to take.



:tinfoilhat: