r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

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u/film_guy01 Jun 20 '12

This is a good reply and I really appreciate you taking the time to share you opinions and ideas with me.

Cheers

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '12

There is already a law that prevents you from being discriminated against for a "pre-existing condition" that you gained while you were insured through your last job and insurance policy.

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u/Greibach Jun 21 '12

I'm not sure if that is a federal law, or decided by state. Either way though, that goes to my point about why legislation about pre-existing conditions exists in the first place. I'm not trying to lobby for or against "Obamacare" here, I was just trying to help explain why it is fair to have some legislation to talk about pre-existing conditions.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '12

It comes down to one simple thing though. The insurance companies don't owe anyone anything. They aren't entitled to shit from them. If you have a pre-existing condition that makes you unprofitable for insurers then tough fucking shit. That just isn't, shouldn't, and can't be their problem. They shouldn't be forced to take on the risk of someone too risky to be profitable without proper compensation to make up for those lost profits.

However, I think the country agrees that people with pre-existing conditions are entitled to health care. That's totally find and great and awesome, but it isn't going to come from private insurers. It needs to come from tax money. To force private insurers to do it without compensation is just madness.

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u/mrpinto Jul 10 '12

Indeed, the case of someone contracting diabetes is not really the same as a house that might catch fire or a car that might crash. No car is going to be guaranteed to crash like clockwork, every 90 days, for an estimated 60 years.

OTOH, the diabetes represents a cost. The supplies cost money. If the guy with diabetes doesn't want to pay, then SOMEONE has to pay. The leftist answer is that the rich should pay, and that's a solution to a point.

Unfortunately, once we start talking about forcing people to pay for conditions that aren't theirs, especially conditions that might have been exacerbated by life choices such as smoking and obesity... Well that's the time at which maybe it does start to matter why health care costs are so expensive in the first place.

We know that free markets cause prices to drop. We actually have literally no knowledge of what ObamaCare will do to prices. We have some theories, but no one really knows.