A Truly Affordable Act

The healthcare law is set to be ruled on in the next coming days.  The repercussions of this ruling could be massive if the law is struck down partially.  If the ruling on the mandate is that it is unconstitutional, it would not make sense to have any other part of the law upheld.  The Affordable Care Act is set to work on this premise which is why the healthcare industry has been preparing for its implementation in the last two years.  The economic repercussions of allowing MORE subsidized medicine will be substantial and, just like any service, must be paid for.  If the mandate, and the mandate only, is ruled unconstitutional then the ACA will have to be paid for by other means.  This may mean higher taxes across the board.  And even if the individual mandate is struck down by the Supreme Court that still leaves the business mandates which requires businesses with over 50 employees to provide health coverage. 

Clearly the ACA has many strings attached and if the main one is cut then we have nothing but a dysfunctional puppet trying to put on a show.  Insurance companies will be required to take on customers even if they have pre-existing conditions without charging extra, costing even more money which will in turn raise prices on those who can afford it to a point where they no longer can.  This will then force those individuals to take the subsidized healthcare which will in turn raise taxes even further.  Just the fact that insurance companies will have to cover anybody and everybody will send some out of business and cause prices to skyrocket forcing more people on subsidized care or to simply not have healthcare, since the mandate was struck down.  Thus, we are still in the same predicament we started in, if not worse.  

This law if put into effect will simply crowd out the private sector of healthcare.  It will put your health in the hands of politicians and not doctors.  

The best alternative I can see is to strike the entire law down and take a look at the policies already in place.  Some argue that regulating healthcare is regulating interstate commerce.  Even if healthcare is interstate commerce, health insurance is not.  Therefore the market for health insurance should be less regulated and allowed to cross state lines in order for competition to take place.  That is a truly AFFORDABLE and CARING ACT.