Originally posted by techsouth
If all of them buy in, it may work. But if some don't buy in, the extra cost gets passed on to those that do. And that extra cost will cause some of them to drop out too. In the end, as the necessary cost goes up, we may see very few young healthy people buy in.
But on the other end (the old and sick), they will buy in immediately. They now have opp ...[text shortened]... old status quo would have been better than ObamaCare. Anything would be better than ObamaCare.
In the insurance business, you are describing 'adverse selection'. People see an imminent threat, and seek to insure it, but insurance companies see the threat as well, especially if it is a pre-existing condition, or smoke coming out the windows of a house.
If it is just a poorly maintained building, a person who is morbidly obese, or other risk factors, insurance can be had, but at higher rates. Even the notion that regular checkups, immunizations, dental and optical work that is predictable are insurable is plain false. As long as the penalty for being uninsured is less than the insurance premium, why would anyone opt to pay the premium? If when you are sick or hurt, you can still get the "insurance", then adverse selection says you buy it when it will pay off.
Obama care could only be that flawed intentionally, so as to be able to substitute pure socialize third party payer for it. Nobody really thought it was a good idea, and would improve American health care.