John Goodman, the top health policy analyst, explains why Obamacare policies are also likely to be canceled. Just because they comply with Obamacare this year doesn’t mean that they will comply next year. The way the law is written guarantees that many policies will not comply for long. In addition, if your policy keeps changing, and the doctors you are allowed to see are restricted to that policy, you may have to keep getting a new doctor over and over again. That should be popular.
Here is another way in which the drafters of this bill shot themselves in the foot. When Obamacare was being constructed, it was feared that it would outlaw the high deductible policy. That was what the Democrats at first wanted to do. They didn’t want the consumer to have any control over health expenditures, but instead to depend entirely on government policies. When this goal proved too expensive, Obamacare ironically outlawed a no deductible policy, as Goodman also explains.
It is easy to deride the authors of this mad bill. But any such legislation was bound to make a mess. Only consumer choice can rationally organize medical services.
