Who Benefits from Obamacare? Democrats, Republicans & the Corporations.
- Thread starter vvvpr
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That is not what you said. You said they can jack up the price as much as they want and implied that that would make them more profits: http://www.politicalfray.com/showpost.php?p=29414&postcount=3
That is false.
Except it is not. Supply and demand. Higher premiums could well mean fewer policies sold and in turn a smaller pool of money and in turn a smaller share to invest.
Do you not read? I already addressed that point of yours. There is no criminal penalty for not adhering to the law. It would be a fine. You will have people who are willing to pay the fine over buying insurance and the number of people who do that will increase at the margin as you increase premiums. Also, some will qualify for opt-out waivers too, especially if their states reject the medicaid expansion, in which case they won't have to pay the fine either.
I will walk you through this, lets say the fine for not having insuranse is 2000 dollars annually, my primium currently is 1600 anually. I chose to pay that. Now my option with law in effect is spend 1600 dollars on insurance or have the fed steal 2000 dollars from me. I don't want to pay more for nothing. Insurance companies being that they are in business to make money can now charge me 2000 annually, possably even more. It costs 2000 to have nothing so we could.charge 2200 for something.
More is more.
More is more.
Everyone does not have the same premium. At the margin, the insurance company loses customers with each hike (time value of money is also a factor here). The market has evolved over the years so that insurance companies generally forgo underwriting profit in favor of greater pools and in turn investment profit. That is not likely to change- they can still make more with greater pools by forgoing underwriting profit.
Do you not realize that everyone pays different premiums depending on their health history, risk factors, etc.? Furthermore, the penalty may well be less than many premiums- that is yet to be seen. Also, most insurance companies do not have monopolies, so that sort of pricing still leads to fewer policies sold as people go to the competitor. You have not thought this through.
Most healthy people pay about 1600 annually give or take. when illness sets in or wreckless behavior is practiced insurance goes up of course.
I am healthy non smoker most people who are isured are. I sold insurance I know who buys it and why it is higher.
Forget the people who have a higher adjusted premium, they would regardless that is a distraction from the point.
The point is when this was the land of the free I could choose not to participate, now that a tyrant has demanded we buy a product under penalty of fine we are coerced into purchasing a product, the producers of said product can make it cost more than the fine. Because a fine is loss, a product is something they can use, you pay either way. And as long as people pay for that product the producer will charge more and more, what incintive do they have to keep it lower than the fine. To the consumer the money is all green
And I will say this one more time more money is not the same as less money. If a business can make more money they will. With the government fining people why wouldn't you buy insurance.
Money for nothing is not as good as money for something.
It is all about what happens at the margin! Premiums can be higher than the fines. Furthermore, money isn't the only value- time, opportunity, etc. matter too.
And you are still ignoring competition driving price down.
If these companies want to make the most money, underwriting still isn't the best way to do it even with a mandate. This is generally accepted by economists on both sides.
Rock bottom copitition is the fine price. That increases most peoples premiums.
Never in all of the history of man kind, did the price of something drop because it was made illegal not to perchase it. If you like probability, it is very very improbable that primiums will stay the same or go down. almost completely opposite.
If you think insurance companies will not charge more if they can, you are deluded. Again more is more, I keep saying more is more because you have no argument against it.
Anyone who knows how insurance works in the US today knows this is a non-issue. Do you really think the Republicans would not have been all over this if your point was true? It just isn't. Premiums might go up because of more risky patients being covered, but it isn't going to go up to increase underwriting profit because that would hurt investing profit to the point where they actually make less. Once more you are wrong, but so confident in your proud ignorance, that you cannot see how things actually work.
If they matched the fine which last I heard was going to be in the neighborhood of 2000 dallars, how would that hurt their bottom line. Potintial consumers don't care, the money is still green. why would an average citizen pay the fine if they could get a service for it.
The republicans were on it, you don't watch much news do you.
If someone has to buy someting under penalty of fine they will most likely buy it, unless the fine is substantially lower than the product.
more customers paying higher primiums equals more money.
Its called price fixing and it happens all the time. It doesn't matter how they grow their money the commerce takes place when premiums are paid and policy are bought.
Look at automotive insurance, before it was a law it was vastly lower.
Their biggest compitition isn't each other, it is the option to chooes to opt out and not be burdened by oppressive fining. Now nobody has a choice. You must pay, when before you could choose not to without penalty.
Pay the insurance or let the government waste it. That isn't a choice. Pay or don't that was a choice
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