Death Spiral

"You really don't have health insurance if you can't afford to use it."

On TV this morning there was a representative from Tennessee (who is also a doctor) commenting on the overhaul of Obamacare. He sat me up when he related that 60-70% of hospital bills in his state were not getting paid because the deductibles on the insurance plans under Obamacare are so high that they force patients to pay these bills out-of-pocket ... for which they have not the money. In other words, even though an additional 5 or 6 million people may have gotten insurance under Obamacare (an equal number falling under expanded-Medicaid, paid for by the rest of us), these people -- along will millions more who lost what was called by Obama "bad apple" insurance and have had to purchase these high-deductible, high-premium, high-co-pay policies -- cannot use this insurance for the reasons stated above.

Now you understand why hospitals are under such financial distress, why emergency rooms have not been emptied as promised, and why Obamacare is so unpopular (except for those being subsidized under expanded Medicaid). I don't care what phony polls may say. There are still enough people receiving health insurance under their businesses or under Medicaid/Medicare that the system has not yet completely collapsed. But Obamacare is in a death spiral because it is a jackass ... a race horse designed by a committee of bureaucrats who don't believe in free markets ... and who colluded with the insurance and drug companies with the notion that they knew better than Adam Smith. Well they didn't ... and they left a pile of steaming bleep for the Republicans.

Can Obamacare be fixed by Ryan/Trump? I am inclined to agree with Rand Paul ... let's euthanize this jackass and design a transition back to the free market ... and, in the process, save our hospitals. In the meantime make the insurance and drug companies compete for our money instead of colluding with the politicians.