By Alan Shay
Palm Beach Post, June 24, 2015
I am growing in favor of abolishing the Affordable Care Act. In a recent letter, “Obamacare doesn’t set insurance costs,” the writer discussed the structure and costs associated with medical insurance policies. He is correct when he states that the insurance companies are responsible for the development and pricing of the current offerings of policies through the marketplace.
The ACA sets the guidelines and mandates associated with certain policy provisions, associated costs and profits.
One should remember that the ACA was introduced as a compromise proposal to appease and to recruit assistance from the opposition, while keeping the insurance companies in the loop to underwrite the risk.
The proposal that was most popular initially was a single-payer plan, similar to the comprehensive and very excellent Medicare program that seniors enjoy. In retrospect, however, the single-payer option would probably have been the better choice, since the ACA’s current options have evolved to offerings of high-cost/low-benefit plans — similar to the offerings that existed pre-Obamacare.
The potential “good” that could come from a court ruling against the ACA would be the possible development of a single-payer system, similar to Medicare, for all Americans — including our elected representatives in the U.S. House and Senate.
This “socialistic” plan (read: Medicare) currently provides a very adequate and acceptable level of benefits to the masses. I feel certain that our politicians would now view and welcome this structure, especially if their current plans were to disappear and the lawmakers were given the same options as their constituents.
Alan Shay is a retired financial planner and a licensed insurance agent. He resides in West Palm Beach.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/point-of-view-losing-obamacare-ok-if-it-leads-to-s/nmjfP/