Obamacare: Does the Strategy Make Sense?

Regardless of whether the folks supporting it knew this, Obamacare had a strategy for reducing insurance premiums for some, while increasing them for others.  The plan had a number of tactics for taking money from one group and giving it to another group.  Here was the plan:

• Force young, healthy people to buy insurance that will only be used rarely, and use these extra premiums paid to the insurance companies to subsidize the people that need health care
• Make these young people pay a fine if they don't buy insurance, and use that to pay for the coverage of the uninsured
• Make anyone else that doesn't have insurance also pay the same fine, and use that to pay for some of the health care they use (the rest will be paid for by the young people and the insured folks with higher premiums)
• Tax the so called "Cadillac" insurance plans that are obviously purchased by the rich, and use the collections to provide coverage for the uninsured
• Tax the evil companies that make profits off of the misfortune of the sick, which can be translated into liberal speak as "tax the profits of medical device manufacturers"
• Make it unlawful for an insurance plan to refuse coverage for pre-existing conditions
• Allow children to stay on their parents' health insurance plan until age 26
• Set a minimum standard for the things that must be covered by a health insurance plan

These things all sound so wonderful.  It brings forth visions of rainbows and unicorns and lots of love and caring.  The government is taking all of the poor and downtrodden in our society and placing them under the wing of the evil, rich capitalists amongst us.  A lot of them are under the wings of the young, healthy folks too.

Does any of this stuff make sense when you think about it for a minute or two?  Let's take a look at these tactics:

• Does a penalty that is much lower than the cost of the insurance do anything to induce the purchase?
• Will the healthy, young folks with insurance continue to pay for it when their premiums triple?  (I work with a young, single man of 23 years old that is having his health insurance premium go up from about $50/month in 2013 to over $150/month in 2014.)
• Will young folks sign up for Obamacare when they are allowed to stay on their parents' plan to age 26?
• Why would anyone of any age buy health insurance today?  You can pay a fine that is much less than the new higher premiums for a PPACA compliant plan.  If you get a terrible, very expensive illness, just sign up for a plan then.  They will have to accept you and the pre-existing condition.
• The "Cadillac" plans were mostly held by union members that had negotiated a premium insurance plan as part of their labor contract.  The unions were exempted from this tax penalty because of their support for Obama and the Democrats.  Maybe we should call them cronies of the Democratic party.
• What happens when the medical device manufacturers have to pay a larger tax?  They raise the prices so that they are passed along to their customers.  That raises the price of the medical care being paid for with the extra money collected.  On the other hand, if you liberals are right and the cost can't be passed along, then the return on investment developing the products will be reduced.  That will cause some product development projects to be cancelled.  This also encourages these companies to move their production and sales overseas, reducing US employment and limiting access to advanced medical care.

The PPACA isn't just the latest MessAPolitico brought to us by Washington liberals.  It is most likely the largest and most damaging one ever conceived.