Think ObamaCare’s ominous rules and mandates are way off in the future? Wrong.
John Hood writes today about the impending destruction of consumer-driven health care, driven by ObamaCare. And it’s already begun. Once you’re read his piece, you’ll realize how vital it is to repeal this law. (emphasis is mine)
Hostile to the philosophical assumptions of consumer-driven health care, and bewildered by its early successes, the Left seeks to use ObamaCare to destroy it with two lines of attack:
• First, the new benefit mandates under ObamaCare will raise the cost of private health plans, particularly in the individual and small-group markets where consumer-driven health care already serves millions of Americans. These costs are already going up in the coming year for plans sold by Aetna, Blue Cross, and other insurers active in these markets. About half of the 18 percent hike Celtic Insurance is seeking for its North Carolina customers stems from ObamaCare mandates, for example.
• Second, ObamaCare will put the president’s Department of Health and Human Services in the position of deciding whether high-deductible health plans based around health savings accounts will be considered “insurance” for the purpose of complying with the legislation’s individual mandate.
The uncertainty about whether such plans will be illegal after 2014 has already driven some insurers out of the market, reports Health Care News. Unless the law is clarified or repealed, others may well follow, including my own insurance carrier.
Such an outcome would rob me and millions of other Americans of the choice to retain the current health care financing arrangements we prefer, contrary to President Obama’s oft-repeated promise. For the Left, however, this is a feature of the plan, not a defect.
In this brief interview excerpt, Hood explains his concerns about the individual insurance mandate included in the ObamaCare law.
