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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (134297)	3/23/2010 8:13:45 AM
From: KyrosL	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542169

The insurance mandate is similar to Switzerland's except for the penalties. In Switzerland you can go to jail, if you don't buy insurance. The penalties for not buying insurance seem trivial, compared to the cost of insurance. What's to prevent healthy people from paying the penalties and buying insurance only when a catastrophe strikes, since now they can do so regardless of pre-existing conditions?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (134297)	3/23/2010 9:27:14 AM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542169

Yes, it's a big deal and there is a very shiny bright side. I say that not just politically but also because this is the moment when our nation finally endorsed the principle that health care for everyone will be part of our culture. That won't change and although this bill may be imperfect, over the next years and decades we can tweak the laws and regulations to implement cheaper, more efficient and more workable ways to achieve that goal. How much that helps the Democrats depends on just how right they got this bill in terms of cost and workability and how fast they fix those sections which need fixing. But, again, we'll never go back. Yahoo! I think it's interesting that this happened just as the Supreme Court has provided greatly increased financial clout in the political arena to immense financial interests such as the insurance industry. This is scary not just because of their financial power but also because they're probably the most adept Madison Avenue spinners on the planet. It will be interesting to see how they use this skill and power in the upcoming elections. I wonder if the Democrats will eventually have to go back to their roots and appeal more elementally to populism, basically acknowledging that class warfare is not some fantasy construct but rather a thread that runs through much of our legislative process? Ed