A quick thought on health reform

Whatever health reform law is passed is bound to have unintended consequences. Part of this is a result of compromises in the legislation that are needed to pass it. Sometimes that makes things more complex, leading to trouble.From the New York Times (Health Care Reform and You)

President Obama has also pledged that if you like your current insurance you can keep it

If you prohibit policies from excluding or charging higher rates to people with pre-existing conditions, the incentive is to pick the least coverage possible when healthy and then buy better coverage once sick.  As a result, you can keep your current insurance, but the cost of that insurance will get much more expensive if people can wait to buy it until they actually get sick.This phenomenon is not really observable under the Massachusetts law, since the minimum requirements for a plan are quite strict --requiring prescription coverage, for example. That might not be the case with a national plan because it drives costs way up.