Anyone Want the Law to Stay on the Books?

[ABC]

Anyone?

There is a 50% chance we could see most of the law stay on the books.

 

[Josh]

I think the law in it's entirety should be struck.

That being said, if their must be a middle ground, the idea of having a PCIP for folks who have pre-existing conditions so they can get coverage at the same rates others would seems like a reasonable enough middle ground. There is no reason why they couldn't have that provision which addresses a legitimate concern folks have without destroying the foundation of the rest of the healthcare system.

I guess that's a long way of saying no.

 

[VolAgent]

Unless you are losing coverage through no fault of your own, lost your job and went through COBRA, plan terminated by carrier or employer, etc. a risk pool should always be significantly more expensive.

If I can go without coverage and just hop into PCIP for the same rates as everyone else once I get sick, why buy coverage in the meantime?

 

[Josh]

Unless you are losing coverage through no fault of your own, lost your job and went through COBRA, plan terminated by carrier or employer, etc. a risk pool should always be significantly more expensive.

If I can go without coverage and just hop into PCIP for the same rates as everyone else once I get sick, why buy coverage in the meantime?

The problem is we're talking about a middle ground.

There are a lot of americans above Medicaid eligibility that have health issues and can't get coverage, but raising the cost "significantly" higher than that of what an otherwise health person would pay would keep making it inaccessible.

Who cares if you wait to buy coverage? At least with a PCIP pool some people would buy it. As it sits now people just go without it and then try to get on Medicaid or stick the providers with the bill anyway if something happens. If you want to add enrollment periods (like Medicare Advantage) then that would be an incentive too, but the PCIP probably wasn't a bad idea. I'd much rather the government partially subsidize coverage for a few, than give it away to many and destroy the foundation of the healthcare system for everyone else.

 

[VolAgent]

As I recall, PCIP charged above market rates and had some interesting calculation of deductibles and co-insurance. I thought that was fair.

Based on what most agents here were posting, it was a fair deal but people still wouldn't do it. There really are people, unless you give it to them for free with a lollipop to boot, they won't do it.

Here in town, they were paying parents to take their children to the health department for their free check-ups. It was free, but they still had to bribe parents to bring the kids in. How much better can it get?

 

[Winter_123]

Anyone?

There is a 50% chance we could see most of the law stay on the books.

I don't know. The mandate is the vital organ. You can argue that 90% of the snake is still there even after you cut off its head but it gets into a lot of trouble in all the writhing and flailing round that follows.

Ironically, both many libs and many conservative strategists believe that Obama would be better off having them kill the whole thing and then argue the moral high ground because he tried to tackle health care and got shot down in battle "so now what are republicans going to do." Instead, if just the mandate goes down and much of the rest stays then all he gets is a chance to watch the beast try to get up and bleed all over the place between now and the election. Man, that is ugly.

Never forget either, if the court leaves the rest, the republics are going to force a floor vote and send it to the senate to force democrats there to go on record as either supporting obamacare or not. Nice way to pick up some senate seats.

Gawd, what a mess. There is no conceivable way Obama can win on this. If the court rules in his favor on everything, he has just told the voters the only way they can kill it now is to vote him out. Not sure he wants to play that game of chicken.

What a mess.

 

[Yagents]

It won't see the senate floor as Prince Reid won't allow his members be subjected to a cut throat vote. But, it will be the repubs fault somehow.

 

[Winter_123]

It won't see the senate floor as Prince Reid won't allow his members be subjected to a cut throat vote. But, it will be the repubs fault somehow.

That is true but not reaching the floor plays out the same for the trap the pubs are playing. there is no clean way of this for Obama. It is a lose/lose scenario regardless of what the court does and the senate does or does not too. The only thing worse for Obama politically than having the court shoot obamacare down would be having them uphold the whole thing and tell him he is good to go with a wildly unpopular program right before an election.

Dont forget too, that in addition to house and senate votes, the pubs are going to work this to force senate candidates out on the trail to take a stand on it. It's a toxic issue, as is Obama for dem senate candidates.

What a mess. Complete waste of the country's time and energy and focus for 3.5 years and now we start all over again.

 

[stuy119]

I hope and pray the law is rescinded in its entirety, but either way, I just want this saga to be over and done with. I've planned for the eventuality that health insurance won't be sold be my any longer come 2014, but I want to know one way or another if it will be available so I can move on with my life.

 

[somarco]

PCIP charged above market rates and had some interesting calculation of deductibles and co-insurance.

I haven't seen any evidence to support that. Here in GA the rates are comparable to plans with similar benefits that are medically underwritten.

I believe PA wrote more of these (on a per capita basis) than any other state and that was mostly because the rates were so low. HHS decided the way to write more business was to reduce rates even further, and so they did.

Brilliant.