Putting The Comp Back In Competition

I was recently at a party in Silver Lake.  One person was holding forth on Obamacare.  He wasn't thrilled with the troubles it's been going through but he's sure it will ultimately win the day.  And he believes--as do I--that the whole program is built as a slippery slope into single payer.  Our difference is he thinks that's a good thing.

He explained how people will get used to getting this service from the government, just like Medicare, and then won't want to do without it.  They'll understand, then, that the best way to do this thing is through the government taking over more and more.  I didn't argue with him (it wasn't really that kind of a party) but I found it interesting how he put it.  He said we need federal regulation to make sure everyone gets it right--none of this "Wild West shit" that's been causing so much trouble.

So that's how the left sees competition, even competition between state governments--Wild West shit.  He just wants everyone (especially the well-off) to throw more money into a pool and have the government decide how to dole it out.  If you honestly feel that people getting to make choices is a bad thing, I can understand why you'd support Obamacare.  In fact, I'm not sure why you think people spending their own money on most products would be a good idea.

PS.  I also saw this New York Times piece against some more Wild West shit where a group is campaigning to have the young opt out of Obamacare.  This group suggests if you don't sign up, there's only a small penalty (excuse me, tax) and you can buy your own insurance much more cheaply--for instance, in Virginia the cheapest available is $40.84 a month.

Apparently this suggestion deeply offended staff editor Juliet Lapidos.

That advice is both terrible and nonsensical.

Let’s start with the terrible part.

I checked out the $40.84 a month plan, now selling for $46.25 and, surprise surprise, there’s a reason it’s cheap. It doesn’t cover office visits for primary care doctors or office visits for specialists. It comes with a $10,000 a year deductible. If you end up in the emergency room, you have to pay 20 percent co-insurance after the deductible. Same with outpatient surgery and hospitalization.

Yes, Juliet, that's the whole point of bare-bones, catastrophic insurance.  You're betting you won't need something at all, or very little--a good bet for health coverage if you're in your 20s. (The planners of Obamacare knew it was a good bet, since they're planning to leverage young people so others can pay less than they would otherwise.)  If something goes wrong, you end up paying a few hundred, perhaps even several thousand.  But if there's complete disaster, and the cost goes into the tens of thousands or more, you're covered.  And this is the cheapest deal of all--if you want to pay a bit more, you can get better coverage, and still pay less than the Obamacare price tag.  Apparently,  merely allowing this choice to young people (and the pitch is to young people) gives Lapidos the shivers.

Onto the nonsensical.

After January 1, no matter where you buy insurance — through an exchange or directly from an insurer through an agent — the basic rules will be the same. All insurance plans will have to meet government standards: essential benefits, tiers of coverage, no discrimination for pre-existing conditions and so forth. That means cut-rate policies like the one recommended by Generation Opportunity won’t exist. You can buy it in these last two months of 2013, but when you renew it in 2014, it’ll look completely different and will cost more.

So in other words, you thought Obamacare was bad, but it turns out to be a hundred times worse.  The law is written so that's there's no escape--you will do it the government way or nothing!  Remember the good old days when at least they pretended this wasn't a government takeover?

So stop complaining about Obamacare and join up.  Resistance is futile.