Reply #4: It'd Create A Financial Nightmare...

[KharmaTrain]

The only way a public system...or one that prohibits insurance companies from cherry picking who they'll cover for maximum profit is by having a large pool of healthy people contributing to the system to keep it solvent. It's similar to social security...we're paying now so that we will be able to collect later. Without a large pool of premium payers, be it public or private, the system will go into the red and in a hurry and the only way to assure there is that steady flow of money to keep the system going is through the mandate. Remove the mandate and you'll have to find another way to finance the system...or watch services cut and people turned away from treatment (back to where we are now).

Here's the rub...to have a truly universal system, the costs have to be spread universally as well. The HIR didn't really address the many reasons healthcare costs have soared...it's not just insurance (that's a byproduct in many ways) and eventually they will have to be dealt with or not only this program but medicare could go bust or create massive defecits to keep going. Even so, mandates would still be required...hopefully at a lower rate. Seems there are some who still haven't realized that the only way a universal system works is if there's a large resevoir of participants...not just soaking the rich (trust me, we can use their money for many other needs) but spread to each and every one of us. There is no free lunch.