Obama Admin: ObamaCare is Just Like Car Insurance
Somebody get the GEICO gecko. He’s about to be put in charge of our health care.
In the wake of Monday’s court decision ruling the individual mandate component of ObamaCare unconstitutional, the White House is trotting out a new line, which is actually an old line, and they’re trying to change the terms of the debate. We shouldn’t be surprised, I guess: These people are trying to put a tax on breathing. Any other tactic is fair game once you’ve tried that.
The White House blog, taking its cues from the left wing blogosphere, trotted out the car insurance argument Monday afternoon, here:
This concept [of forcing Americans to buy something as the price of citizenship] is clearly seen in other areas of commerce. For example, in most states, drivers are required to carry a minimum level of auto insurance. Accidents happen and when they do, they need to be paid for quickly and responsibly. Requiring drivers to carry auto insurance accomplishes this goal. Similarly, the Affordable Care Act, through the individual responsibility requirement, will require everyone to carry some form of health insurance since everyone at some point in time participates in the health care system, and incur costs that must be paid for.
And then today, out come attorney general Eric Holder and HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius, with the same line in an op-ed for the Washington Post.
Imagine what would happen if everyone waited to buy car insurance until after they got in an accident. Premiums would skyrocket, coverage would be unaffordable, and responsible drivers would be priced out of the market.
This, along with changing the label of the “individual mandate” to the softer “individual responsibility,” forms the backbone of the Obama admininstration’s new strategy to defend ObamaCare.
Holder and Sebelius open their piece with the usual liberal sob story, about someone who couldn’t get coverage until ObamaCare rode in to save the day:
In March, New Hampshire preschool teacher Gail O’Brien, who was unable to obtain health insurance through her employer, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma. Her subsequent applications for health insurance were rejected because of her condition. With each round of chemotherapy costing $16,000, she delayed treatment because she knew her savings wouldn’t last.
Then President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to this law, O’Brien is getting treatment through a temporary program that provides affordable coverage to people who’ve been shut out of the insurance market because of a preexisting condition. Even better, she knows that in 2014 insurers will be banned from discriminating against her or any American with preexisting conditions.
Funny thing about all that. ObamaCare didn’t even contain state level high risk pools until the end stages of the debate, when according to Yuval Levin, the Democrats tacked them on to make the bill appear to be more effective before 2014. Another funny thing about that: Most states already have high risk pools. Texas has had its high risk pool in the law since 1989, and funded since 1997. State high risk pools are expensive and like everything else, imperfect, but they generally work. Texas didn’t need ObamaCare to tell us to create it. If anything, ObamaCare’s mandates threaten to bankrupt the states by saddling them with billions in unfunded mandates, which will presumably destroy state health care risk pools and other similar programs. ObamaCare isn’t the antidote, it’s the poison.
Too bad Dems didn’t hire the Gecko for oral arguments.
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com
“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”
Obamacare is to auto insurance what pai gow is to french cooking.
Auto insurance is designed to pool the risk that an insured’s driving actions my harm SOMEONE ELSE’S property or person. If you bang up your fender in your own garage, nobody cares whether you have insurance or you don’t. If you have it fixed out of your pocket, nobody cares.
Obamacare mandates that you purchase an insurance product that disallows you from self-funding your own health management.
The one exception, perhaps, involved illegal aliens. If they crash into your car, YOU are supposed to carry enough “uninsured motorist” insurance to cover the damage caused by a person who isn’t legally driving, isn’t legally even in possession of a license to drive, isn’t granted a privilege to engage in the very activity that caused the accident. YOU…are responsible for their irresponsibility.
In health care, you may self-fund your own doctors, dentist, acupuncture, chiropractic or aroma… or even massage therapy. Until now.
Your health management is no longer your choice. The reason is simple. There is no other way to force you to pay for everyone else, including illegal aliens. The issue of YOUR health is not particularly of any interest to the leftist government overlords. Frankly, if you are a “seasoned citizen” who is of a particular political persuasion, they would just as soon that you go ahead and die already.
The canard that this is about “caring” for your health is a cosmic joke. It is about “redistribution” of entitlements to once and future voters for the Party.
The “attrition” of you “older, conservative white folks” out of existence, is the real Dream Act.
But, if they can reach into your pockets and purses while you are still alive and kicking, all the better. Auto insurance is looking out for the other guy in case you accidentally hurt him. Obamacare is about looking out for the other guy, and hoping that hurts you.
You missed the part of one being able to choose not to drive, choose not to own a car, and/or choose to not get a driver’s license. Obamcare allows NO CHOICE but to comply.
And under the auto policy scenario, I can buy it from a Texas company even though I live in Wyoming, whereas health insurance, I have to buy from an insurance company allowed to sell insurance in Wyoming (BC/BS of Wyoming). Secondly, if I get into an auto accident and the repairman makes a mistake, he will be required to fix it, but it won’t be like me winning the lottery through pain and suffering punishment for my having to ride the bus a couple extra days. Obamacare addresses neither of these problems with the current health care industry.
No you do have the option of suicide and that way you are not obliged to participate in the program. This however is not an option I like, what if most all people in the US did not buy the insurance from whoever offered it at any price and said hey lock me up. It almost seems like a debtors prison and right now there is not room for too many more prisoners!
Well, if you chose not to buy health care insurance as required then go to jail, at least you’ll get free health care.
Actually, if you kill your business, and make under 133% of FPL, the mandate would not apply, since you would get free health insurance, welcome to the Medicaid Jungle. Where participants still go to the ER for healthcare since they can’t get a doctors appointment.
Until the Dems agree to implement SERIOUS tort reform, they simply cannot wear the humanitarian “we care for the people” robe. Not that tort reform will fix this by itself, but it is a real step in keeping costs down, and Dems don’t want to do it because of their donations from the legal community. Their honesty in “trying to keep costs down” is blatantly absurd.
Holder and Sebelius made this argument:
“Imagine what would happen if everyone waited to buy car insurance until after they got in an accident. Premiums would skyrocket, coverage would be unaffordable, and responsible drivers would be priced out of the market.”
Yes, and that is exactly why it is wrong to force insurers to provide coverage with pre-existing conditions! If you VOLUNTARILY choose not to buy insurance (for your home, car, health, possessions, or life) you do not have coverage – in which case you will suffer the consequences.
a mandate for all makes the premiums affordable. The young pay more in then they use the elderly take more out then they pay in. If you do not
have coverage only you are hurt by it. Unfortunately ?? there is another
law that hospitals cannot refuse treatment to those without insurance.
So others are hurt paying for your care. If to many refuse to buy insurance the hospital could very well close. It is interesting that
the mandate in Massachusetts is voluntary and through a good sales pitch
has a very high % of compliance and is workable financially.
So we should have a mandate that everybody pays a thousand or so a month for housing, even if you are living with your parents.
That way, you pay for housing for people who can’t afford it but you can, and then if you fall on hard times, somebody else will pay for you.
Housing has to be a human right, doesn’t it? Who can live without shelter?
And what about pornography? Lots of people really need it a lot, so we should have to contribute, right? Otherwise, how are they going to get enough of it to be happy. And the Constitution says right there that they have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, right?
Don’t forget food. Food is essential to health, so we should have a food mandate.
And a clothing mandate. Let folks in states like Florida and Hawaii subsidize the clothing expenditures of people living in Maine and Alaska.
I guess we just need to put the government in charge of everything. Then we’ll be just as happy and successful as the Soviet Union.
So many of these pro Obamacare arguments make no sense. Isn’t it true that most if the people using emergency services do so becasue they cannot afford health insurance? After Obamacare they will still be unable to afford it. So nothing will have changed accept they will be given “dignity” and the right to demand much more than simple emergency care. I can see a rush to “free health care” by many people who could otherwise afford to pay but figure out how to game the system. Fraud will be even more rampant than it is now with Medicare (Medicare looses more to fraud each year than the profits made by the 10 largest health care companies).
The mandate to carry insurance on the rest of us only theoretically will pay for this. But it also has to pay for all new coverage mandates like pre-existing conditions and every new thing that will get politicized, lobbied for and inserted as we go forward.
Costs are going up. Next target will be health care professionals who will be required to do more for less pay. That will cause defections from the profession or import of foreign trained doctors as has happened in Europe. Either way, services degrade and the main pressure put on the system will be to lower costs – not to keep you healthy or alive.
But not to worry if you work for the government or you are in a Union. The Obama administration has a waiver waiting for you .
Mike, actually millions will be taken from private health insurance, and put onto free Medicaid. The government is replicating what is already being done in the free market and making is more “efficient”
Although the individual mandate is offensive it is the rest of the bill that offends me the most. It takes away my right to determine how much and what type of coverage I want for myself and my family. It forces me to subsidize others thus stealing more of my income, it raises taxes on everyone, and it attempts to get the middle class hooked on subsidies. What I want is to be left alone to fend for myself and that includes my retirement. I want out of Social Security.
Yes please. Can I opt out of SSI also, I will gladly forgo my upcoming (2 years) “benefit” if they would just abolish this unconstitutional program, along with all the other unconstitutional programs and agencies.
But Chris, 2 million gov employees are counting on you!
This buying into the ‘luck of the worst’ scenario by which to run our lives resembles the plaintive bleating of a sheep rather than rugged Americans.
Yes, let’s all imagine worst case scenarios when we’re living almost twice as long as a hundred years ago and then plunder our own bank accounts and those of others and our individual freedoms too. When we’re done with that we can make everything we do twice as expensive because someone might fall down and sue.
Don’t forget to put on yer helmet when you get in the tub and plastic goggles when you go outside. Birds you know – they could pluck out your eyes. And make sure your lawn is precisely 2.7 inches high. Americans, having transformed themselves into the knee shivering nerd who gets his lunch money hijacked shouldn’t be surprised by the bullying of our own government bureaucracy; we encourage it by our own cowardice.
America’s gone. Forget about it and bow your heads and fold your hands until the nuns tell you what you can’t do next.
Well said. But even sheep are left alone to graze so long as they submit once a year to being sheared. What we are headed for is more organ grinder monkey or pack mule. We will serve, obey and act as the government wishes in everything we do, every day. Otherwise we won’t get fed.
Auto insurance is required to get a driver’s license. You don’t have to get auto insurance if you don’t want to. You just don’t get a license. No driver’s licence makes sense for many different people – blind, some disabled , etc. Or, just plain choice. Many chose “not” by religion, living circumstance, etc. Comparable to health mandate? Hardly.
Here is a statement from the STUPIDEST ATTORNEY ON PLANET EARTH about ‘car insurance’ compared to health insurance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmo1rATDE00
And his kook media and minions, are still publishing the same absurdity.
So, basically, he bought the lowest legal minimum insurance, and was surprised to learn that it doesn’t pay for repairs. One hesitates to say this of our POTUS, but what a maroon.
What he fails to understand is that the mandatory insurance for any vehicle is liability, if he wanted comprehensive (which is required by some lenders for a loan) then he would have had his beater fixed but his premiums would have had a deductible that was outrageous or minus a high deductible he would have been paying premiums worth more than his crappy car!
A car or vehicle is a fungible item but a human life is a unique individual item!
The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution extends to the federal government authority to regulate interstate commerce; without the Commerce Clause, the federal government would have no such authority. That authority is not the same as the authority of the states and they do not derive their authority from the Commerce Clause; depending on their own constitutions, some states might be able to mandate medical insurance.
There are obvious differences between federally mandated medical insurance and state mandated automobile and other liability insurance. However, that the federal government has only those powers granted by the Constitution is the most important distinction. Contrary to the apparent views of some, the United States is not one of the
fifty-sevenfifty states. The limits of the Commerce Clause formed the basis for Judge Hudson’s decision. The Commerce Clause just does not permit the federal medical insurance mandate.There are lots of things some would like to have the federal government do; it lacks the authority to do many of them.
I was wondering the same thing myself. Did the WH realize that they were making an argument for states to control healthcare reform?
And don’t forget that the 10th amendment specifically limits the federal government to the enumerated powers.
Mr. Preston is a welcome new light among major conservative bloggers. The argument that Sebelius and Holder use is similar to the classic argument that is used to create closed unions shops. According to the argument, if anyone is to enjoy the benefits of union membership then everyone employed by the company (on the floor) must sacrifice their right to be non-union; otherwise, the employer can simply replace the union with new-hires. The American people will not accept that argument.
You gotta love a commentor who can argue 5 sides of an issue, misinterpret the intent of the author, respond to an unrelated topic and use logic like a mobius strip, all in one tidy 150 word package.
Everyone should be required to have insurance!
Asteroid insurance. One of these days…BAM! Just think how high asteroid insurance will be if you wait until one hits and then try to get it!
“Imagine what would happen if everyone waited to buy car insurance until after they got in an accident…”
I have a better statement: imagine if EVERYBODY in the US drove a car!
ON a lighter note, on point but to the side.
When Obamacare passed I asked my 30 something internist what he thought about all this.
He said he hadn’t really looked at it but couldn’t see how it could be that bad and by the way he was more into running than politics.
In October I revisited my young jogger internist for a check up and asked him if he had looked at Obamacare. He said he’d been informed from older soon to retire doctors and kinda understood it. His conclusion was that he would handle it, if it came to that, by being more selecive of patients, especially with respect to older patients (apparently like me, couldn’t believe he said that). So it seems he will not take on certain patients if they don’t fit his ‘profile’. It would seem to him not that tough to circumvent Obamacare and probably wouldn’t effect his workout schedule.
Sounds good to me.
On January 4, 2011 I have a follow-up appointment with my young workout internist and plan to ask him what he will do when Obamacare doesn’t give him the option to opt out of certain patients (try Canada/UK as Exhibit A, P.S. I lived and worked in Canada for 3 years, I know all about how it works up there).
I’m betting he doesn’t have an answer.
We live in a U.S.A that is looking less and less like that of my youth. AND Some would say “old guys don’t like change, that’s the way it has always been don’t get wound up” and I, the old guy, would say “and then there was Rome and then their was Atilla the Hun, then the dark ages and along came Genghis Kahn, etc. et al.”
So Dr. internist……. you choose what you want your life to be. I mostly won’t be around to see how it works out. Good Luck and good running. BTW….I always preferred Asics for running…..
…..Oh I”m 61, maybe I’ll see a little of the outcome if the Supremes don’t take care of Obamacare. Fun to watch though and I try not to get too wound up.
Leftists depend on an uninformed populace.
In this case, they sowed the seeds via the education system. Now they reap the benefits.
I am SOOOOO glad the judge ruled the way he did…now we just need the Supreme Court to do their duty and help get this thing knocked down! I am not one to watch YouTube videos, but this was forwarded to me and I couldn’t stop laughing so I thought I’d share! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FwncVrlqA
Well, is anyone really surprised the dems keep using the same analogy over and over? If it works, use it, even if it’s a lie.
They won’t change tactics or their message until their internal polling tells them otherwise.
This is getting so freakin’ old.
The shameful thing here isn’t that auto insurance bears little if any resemblance to health insurance. The shameful thing is that the Constitution clearly enumerates the domain of the Federal government (which does not include insurance mandates, or health care for that matter), and pointedly assigns all issues not enumerated as being the domain of the states and individuals. The states and individual citizens are supposed to have dominion over far, far more issues than the federal government.
This may come as a surprise to the socialists of both parties, but health care was an issue when the Constitution was framed, as were abortion, homosexuality, and recreational drugs. Yet the federal government was not given dominion over any of them, not one.
How far we’ve fallen.
How this is going to help us with the illegals sucking off of this country’s resources (since they manage to get welfare and food-stamps without requiring to be legal first) is beyond me. But, the Democrats love rewarding lack of personal responsibility when it comes to their “base”. Women and men having children out of wedlock? Not a problem. NAMBLA having sex young boys? Not a problem. Anchor babies? Not a problem. Spreading AIDS through homosexual activity? Not a problem. “Free” stuff for being a slacker and a deadbeat? Not a problem. Here illegally without a home? Not a problem. Driving without a license and you’re here illegally? Not a problem. Can’t afford your medical bills and you’re an illegal alien? Not a problem.
The auto insurance analogy is completely flawed.
No jurisdiction requires you to have auto insurance to keep your car alive.
Comprehensive and Collision insurance is purely optional and entirely a personal choice.
What IS required is insurance to protect OTHERS from suffering a loss that YOU caused. Liability insurance is required. NJ requires accident insurance to cover medical costs (no fault) – this eliminates huge amounts of litigation over fault. It is a STATE mandate … the Feds have nothing to do with it.
0′s position is basically since it is OK to require car insurance to drive on public roads it is OK to require health insurance to wake up in the morning.
Unless you are a Muslim, maybe
And since when did car insurance become a federal matter?
If uninsurable teacher (just 1 part of the story that’s hard to believe) Gail O’Brien delayed treatment for an aggressive lymphoma because she “knew her savings wouldn’t last”, you have to wonder what she would’ve used those “savings” for. Priorities, lady….priorities!
“Gail O’Brien, who was unable to obtain health insurance through her employer…” That is the problem right there. Since when must someone else (employer, government) be the only way to obtain health insurance? Up until Obamacare makes it much more expensive in 2012 with taxes (phasing out HSAs for example), getting individual insurance costs as much as a car. A family costs as much as a luxury car. She made a choice to buy the convenience of a car instead of a little more security. (I made the opposite choice – at least until that choice is taken away in 2012.) Until Obamacare, individual high deductible insurance plus HSA funding equal to the deductible was about the same cost as an HMO. You still get discounted prices, you make your own decisions, and you don’t have to worry about changing employers.
Furthermore, the “insurance” offered by many employers is usually (though not always) not insurance at all, but a “Health Maintenance” plan. I.e. socialized medicine on the corporate scale (better than on a government scale) where bureaucrats make decisions for you. I was on one of those briefly. You have to call your nanny just to get permission to get a strep test. And if you need to change jobs with a preexisting condition, you are in trouble (although COBRA tries to help).
This is not about the poor (for which expanding Medicaid would be the socialist remedy), but about gaining control over all medical decisions for all citizens except for the very rich (who don’t need insurance or can afford to pay the tax penalties to get it). If this doesn’t get repealed, we’ll soon be told we have to buy soy (or soylent green) “turkeys” for the “Autumn Feast” (and I’m a raw vegan nut most of the year, but soy makes me fart).
Obamacare is nothing like car insurance, I lay out 19 ways it’s very different. And the video on youtube shows that Obama knows very little about his car insurance coverage, and never even bothered to read his policy! So don’t use car insurance as an example.