Obama's Health Care Plan Might Work

My previous blogs shared concerns about the Obama National Health Care Plan. However, there is at least one thing I’m very pleased to see in the plan, and that’s mandated coverage for every American.

Gasp! Did I say “mandated”? Yes, and here’s why. All insurance coverage works on one simple principle; those who do not use the insurance subsidize the coverage for those who end up using it. It takes a huge “pool” of people paying insurance premiums but not using benefits to make premiums affordable for those in the pool who do use them.

With health insurance, the vast majority of the 47 million or so uninsured Americans have chosen not to purchase it. A very large number are young and healthy and not likely to use their coverage at all, even if they did have health insurance. If we made sure that as many healthy people as possible were paying (even a small amount) into the health insurance pool, and not using the benefits, the rates would go down for all of us. It’s a win-win; everyone gets coverage and the rates become reasonable.

So, how do you make sure people who are young and healthy have health insurance? Mandate it. Mandates are unpopular and politically risky, but this is one thing the Obama administration and the House have done right. Let’s hope this provision sticks.