ObamaCare: We told you so

That leads to the second provision we warned about, the individual mandate. This is supposed to prevent free riders from waiting until they are sick by forcing them to buy insurance. But the penalty for refusing to buy insurance was set at $750, which is far lower than the cost of insurance. As I wrote back then, “we end up getting the worst of both worlds. This provision won’t actually drive anyone to buy health insurance and prop up the risk pools for those who are insured. All it will accomplish is to create a brand new form of tax.”

Finally, there are the federally mandated health-insurance exchanges, in which the federal government dictates what insurers are required to pay for, banning less expensive bare bones coverage and requiring insurance policies that cover more procedures and “preventative” tests. As I warned, “under the guise of making health insurance more affordable, this bill will restrict your menu of choices to include only the most expensive options.”…

The consequences of ObamaCare–particularly the built-in “death spiral”–are so predictable that I don’t think the legislation’s architects can profess innocence. From the beginning, I have had suspicions, so to speak, that a stable health insurance industry was not the goal of ObamaCare. Rather, I warned: “It is an attempt to turn health insurance into what the left really wants: another welfare program in which everyone is entitled to free benefits, mandated by the government.”