Better Luck Next Time On HCR? Sunset The Mandate
[I wrote this one a few days ago. Think it bears revisiting.]
Well, health care reform failed yet again. It's not clear what will be in the final bill that President Obama signs before the State of the Union, but it surely will not be health care, or even health insurance, reform. The question becomes will there be another crack at it in the foreseeable future? One way to make sure there is another crack at it would be to sunset the individual mandate portion of the bill (killing the mandates would be preferable but that's not going to happen.)
Given the political power of the insurance industry, the only reason there has been a discussion about health care reform this year is because the carrot of mandates could be dangled. This bill delivers those mandates to the insurance industry. Without that carrot, I can not imagine a time in the near future where health care reform is again taken up. UNLESS, the individual mandates are sunsetted. More . . .
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