I don't see how this is all workable if there is no way to force down the cost of healthcare premiums, to insure no pre-existing conditions turn downs, to provide portability between jobs, to make healthcare insurance affordable, etc.
To date, the only plan that has seemed to me that does it is a robust public health option (Medicare +). If something can be written that provides that assurance and is a trigger, I would like to look it over carefully, see how it stands up to serious criticism, but it might prove acceptable. If, and this is my big if, it both provides that assurance and gets a "good" healthcare bill enacted.
My bottom line.
Talked with our son-in-law Sunday who just quit his job as a jazz teacher in a Brooklyn private school because he wants to devote more time to his jazz playing and composing career. And may well have enough gigs to afford to do it.
The problem, of course, is health insurance premiums.
If he faces a mandate with a large fine if he does not do it, and no affordable option, he is lost for future political stuff for some time. And he's been an avid Obama supporter.
I think he's an illustration of a lot of young people. |
