Ever wonder why the institution of a high risk pool was driven by Democrats and the Left in North Carolina, but has become anathema among supporters of the health care monstrosity in Washington?

One reason is that national Republicans have embraced the concept despite some trepidation on the Right when North Carolina debated the idea.

The larger reason is also why the GOP has come to like the idea and why I endorsed a high-risk pool in 2006. The Left has come to realize that high-risk pools are a temporary solution and can transition just as easily to a consumer-driven system as to a government-run system.

High-risk pools also include a waiting period before individuals can qualify. This is to avoid the moral hazard inherent in guaranteed coverage. President Obama and his enablers would prefer to address that problem with an unenforceable mandate for health insurance and leave insurance companies to eat the cost when individuals choose anyway not to get coverage until they absolutely need it.

In other words, high-risk pools are too honest and give too much freedom and responsibility to individuals for them to be acceptable in the current definition of reform.

And now you know.