Clinton Chait and 11 Dimensional Chess

Jon Chait is not impressed by Bill clinton.

Bill Clinton Wants You to Keep Your Plan, Won’t Say How
Bad Secretary of Explaining Stuff!

organizing skittish red-state senators is one thing; organizing Bill Clinton is another. The former president now says that the government should change Obamacare to allow everybody in the individual market who likes their plan to keep it:

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come up with some other source of funding to compensate insurance companies for their losses. Clinton doesn’t say where that money would come from.

OK now let’s remember the original 11 dimensional chess story (fantasy myth whatever). What happened was that, to be elected President, Obama claimed that we could have community rated health insurance for all including those with pre-existing conditions without an individual mandate (he claimed this many times in 2008 Democratic hopeful debates). This terrified insurance companies so their lobby AHIP said it would support any health care reform so long as there were an individual mandate. 11-dimensional blind luck I think, but it worked.

Now let’s look at the new Clinton proposal and take it literally. He seems to be saying you can keep your health insurance even if your insurance company wants to terminate you. I assume that a limit on premium increases would be included (you can keep it if you pay $1,000,000 a month isn’t what he or anyone with a 3 digit IQ has in mind). This would lead to problems. It would probably bankrupt all insurance companies as they set rates assuming they could refuse to renwer and also often rescind.

The proposal sounds great and would be death for a big business sector. What happens if Democrats propose such a bill ? Either Republicans block it or the insurance industry is doomed and will have to be replaced by single payer.

Souinds good to me.

Chait’s argument is that Clinton’s proposal is no good, because it would bankrupt the insurance industry if adopted. Similarly Chait could prove that Obama will never sign a health care reform bill, because his health care reform proposal would bankrupt the insurance industry.

“Accept the status quo, destroy the insurance industry or find some compromise with me” worked once. I say try it again.