Pistol Pete explains that if only the mandate is unconstitutional from a judicial view, Obamacare actually becomes worse. The point of the mandate is to keep people from avoiding insurance payments untill they actually get some troubling symptoms. They can never be turned down under the “reform” just because they have a “preexisting” condition, and so a rational actor might wait until something exists before being insured. Without mandates, insurance costs will go up more rapidly for everyone, the new system will more quickly unravel, and the public option might well more quickly look like the only option. The lesson (one Americans often have trouble learning) is that the Court ain’t going to save us: we, “the people,” have to save ourselves. And so, as Pete explains, the people really need to be presented alternatives they can comprehend and believe in. That surely is the job of Republican statesmanship these days.
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