11/15/2013

Backpedaling On ObamaCare - A Lesson From History?

As the ObamaCare debacle continues to unfold, the abuse being heaped upon the President and the Democrats in Congress is increasing. Even the President's non-apology apology and unilateral backpedaling in regards to the elimination of millions of insurance polices because of some previsions in the law that bears his name has not deflected the criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

One comment posted in response to the opinion piece linked above uncovered a truth that applies to ObamaCare, something that goes back almost 40 years that should have stood as an example of how not to do something as important as health insurance.

I have seen this type of insurance 'scheme' before.

Way back in the bad days of the 1970's, then member of the Massachusetts House Michael Dukakis submitted legislation that made auto insurance 'no-fault', meaning that whether you had no claims or a lot of claims, everyone paid the same premiums. It looked good on paper but the reality was that bad drivers had no incentive to change their behavior, claims against policies went way up, insurance premiums skyrocketed, and some insurance companies decided it was a money-losing proposition and pulled out of providing auto insurance policies in the Pay State.

After years of abuses and insurance premiums increase at many times the rate of inflation, 'no-fault' auto insurance was killed by the legislature when almost all of the insurance companies threatened to pull the plug and no longer offer auto insurance.

ObamaCare seems to be structured much like Massachusetts' failed experiment with progressive auto insurance regulations.

That the failed insurance law was crafted by a Democrat should have been a warning sign in and of itself. But like Albert Einstein once famously stated, “History doesn't repeat itself. It rhymes.”

I'd say ObamaCare certainly 'rhymes' with the disastrous 1970's Massachusetts experiment and I have a feeling it it will end much the same way, but at a much higher cost.