Your "RIGHT" to healthcare going right down the toilet.

As Anthem announced that they were pulling out of several counties in Ohio, leaving some with no exchange plans, one must ask how their "right" to health care is going right now.  I use the word right, as that is how they perceive it.  As a reminder, something that forces someone else to do something for you is not a right.  Back to programming.

These counties are left without private plans, and it will spread throughout the US, for one reason;  Ocare.  Before Ocare, people not covered by their employers had several options.  They could not have any coverage.  They could get a "Catastrophic Plan" that covers serious situations, not your every day strep, or flu visit.  They could also construct a plan based on their needs, and how much they could afford.  All that is gone, as now there can't be any of those plans.  Even not having coverage is ILLEGAL.

The CBO report said something like 24 million would no longer be covered.  Coverage, defined by the CBO is the Ocare level of coverage.  So if you get a mini-med or catastrophic coverage, according to the CBO, you are uninsured.  There are a lot of presumptions about Ocare enrollment in the future that it includes in its numbers, assumptions which have been proved false thus far, and will not happen, even if Ocare stays.  Yes, it does mean that.  Read it.

So, as a reminder.  I have written that if the GOP does not get Health Care done, AND serious tax reform done before the end of the year, they can kiss their majorities good bye.  No matter how hard the Democrats are trying to keep losing.

In California, the state legislature has decided to press forward with single payer health care.  They estimate the costs at $400 billion.  Of course we know how everyone estimates costs.  They paint rosy scenarios, and hold their breath.  But let's take that number at face value.  How does it compare to the state budget right now?  Oh, it is only TWICE the current ENTIRE state budget.  TWICE.  Of course, they think they will recoup some medicaid money from the Feds, but really, TWICE the budget?  That means to add on at least $100 billion or so, for things the state does, you know, education, defending illegals, roads, and so on.  The problem with California, is that for some reason, the rest of the US goes the way they do.   So, remember, #calexit  live it love it, send money to support it!

Why they are trying this is unclear, well, no, it isn't, they are overrun with progressives.  And I think I read that NY is contemplating this as well.  I would just tell them one word.  Vermont.  Why?  They tried it, and when it consumed their state budget, they had to drop the program.   Yup, Bernie Sanders' Vermont.  Tried, Failed, Moved on. Oh, wait, when Socialism fails, it is the one implementing it, not the ideology.  Never mind.

Whose fault is it that all of these insurers are pulling out?  Objectively looking at it, I would say that the penalties for not having insurance are insufficiently large to motivate people to get the insurance.  So, if you don't have insurance, you are a criminal.  End of discussion, and it is YOUR fault that the exchanges are failing.   But doesn't that say something in and of itself, that tens of millions of people prefer to be criminals rather than get the mandated insurance?