Obamacare

[John_James]

@Cortes

Which article talks about disproving the affordable cost premise I mentioned above?

The majority of them mention the fallacy of bringing down costs, but I would try

“Alice in Health Care” — Part I, II, III, IV

“The ‘Costs’ of Medical Care” — Part I, II, III, IV

Understanding the Costs of Healthcare

Socialized Healthcare vs. The Laws of Economics

Why is Medical Care so Expensive

Health Care for All!

‘Bad Medicine’ or Bad Economics?

for starters.

[Sorry, I’m just being pragmatic here. Do you think the average Joe Blow has the attention span or will to wade through that entire reading list if you don’t even tell him why he’s wrong beforehand?]

Sorry, I didn’t realize you considered yourself an “average Joe Blow”, and that you wouldn’t take the time to read sources provided to you without being told what they say beforehand.

Also, the Affordable Care Act stipulates that 1) Medicaid will be used to pay for medical treatment for people earning 133% of less of the “federal poverty level”, and 2) people earning between 133% and 400% of the “federal poverty level” will receive some kind of subsidy for purchasing health insurance through a government-sponsored “health insurance exchange”.

So? Isn’t that good?

No, government subsidization and bureaucratization is never good.

Also, wouldn’t this mandate give the insurance companies more customers, and therefore incentive to lower costs?

You mean kind of like how the school systems are incentivized to lower costs (and increase quality) because of the legal monopoly that ensures they have more customers?

Or like how the US Postal Service is incentivized to lower costs (and increase quality) because of the legal monopoly that ensures they have more customers?

Or like how the DMV is incentivized to lower costs (and increase quality) because of the legal monopoly that ensures they have more customers?

Or like how the police department is incentivized to lower costs (and increase quality) because of the legal monopoly that ensures they have more customers?

Or like how the government itself is incentivized to lower costs (and increase quality) because of the legal monopoly that ensures they have more customers?

When it comes down to it, 30/40 billion people cannot afford health care. Congress got together and discussed ‘how can we make healthcare affordable for 30 million people’? Isn’t that great of them?

Why don’t we just make everybody in the pool get into the system? Then the insurance companies will have all these new customers! And when enough people have this healthcare, the costs will go down! Who cares about scarcity; the mandate will increase demand for better doctors!

Since you don’t seem to be willing to read or listen to any of the sources provided to you in this thread I’m just going to leave you with this simple thought. If you cannot be refused coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition, and the “penalty” for not purchasing coverage is less expensive than the coverage itself, and the government has no way to really enforce the penalty anyway, why would anyone bother purchasing coverage before they get sick or injured? Why would anyone waste their money paying for something before they are going to use it?

And if no one will do that, where are all these healthy customers going to come from? The only people who will end up actually paying for coverage are those who are going to be taking payouts (i.e. receiving care that costs more than what they’re paying into the pool).

If you can explain how that would work you’ll be the savior of freeloaders.

@Cortes

The government will just make more doctors! [people seriously believe this]. […] Also, instead of everybody rushing to the emergency room, instead more people will just be getting preventative care instead of care when they’re sick! We’d have LESS doctors, not more! Problems solved, guys. Obamacare will work.

If you’re asking how you can get people who believe “government will create more doctors” while simultaneously believing “we’d have LESS doctors, not more”, to accept reality, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m sure there’s a psychiatry forum somewhere on the Internetz.