Ken's Comments

I've been reading how the repeal of Obamacare will result in millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions being denied health insurance. Horse manure.  Obamacare* is not the very first law passed in the United States to address this problem.  Those other laws remain in effect when Obamacare is repealed and under those laws people with pre-existing conditions can get coverage and do not face higher rates.  Opinion writers, news stories, and the studies they cite, notwithstanding. For an example of what is being said - go to HuffingtonPost.com and search Obamacare and you'll see story after story about the possibility of a Federal Appeals Court overturning the law.  The big concern expressed - the possibility of millions of Americans being denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions.  Here is one such quote: "More than 50 million Americans have something in their medical histories that could disqualify them from health insurance absent t...

First step, Repeal Obamacare.  As discussed in the previous article, it has accomplished two things - get more people covered and eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions but it failed in just about every other goal. Why did Obamacare fail?  It is too complicated.  The law tries to micromanage every part of the industry.  Need more competition, we'll artificially create it.  Benefits?  The law says what will be covered.  Pricing - the Federal Government adds multiple layers of bureaucracy to the State layers that already existed.  Selling insurance - we'll "supplement" the current sales methods with an Exchange.  And on and on... The Three Stooges had a bit where they were plumbers and Curly goes into the bathroom to fix a leaky pipe.  At the end of it, he's surrounded by a maze of pipes from floor to ceiling and the leak is still there.  Obamacare reminded me of that.  Everything that someone thought was wrong they adde...

Part 1 of a multi-article post.  This is looking back.  The next will look at alternatives for the future. What went right 1. About 20 Million more people have coverage thanks to Obamacare 2. No more preexisting exclusions What is debatable or uncertain 3. More young people have coverage on their parents policy President Obama touted this during his re-election The counter-argument is that proponents of the law were counting on young people buying individual coverage to offset the cost of older or sicker people entering the market.  How do you reconcile that goal with giving young people coverage for free under their parents' policy?  Is it any surprise that people are complaining now that rates are going up because not enough healthy people bought coverage?  And who are the healthiest people you know?  Those aged 18 to 26 who can now stay on their parents' coverage. 4. Obamacare will make people healthier - on this point the NY Times s...