Health Care Mandate - What we're in-store for

Say what you want, Democrat or Republican; 2014 is around the corner and everyone, yes everyone will have to have insurance unless of course the Supremem Court weighs in and strikes down parts or all of the comprehensive Health Care legislation passed two years ago. The debate has raged on since the presidency of Harry Truman, through the Nixon years and most famously in the 1990's with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You might be saying, the Government doesn't have the right to force me to buy Health Care Insurance BUT every time an uninsured person walks into a Hospital - we ALL end up paying. And let's not forget that for a very long time, the States have mandated that every person with an auto or a drivers license must have comprehensive auto insurance. Can you imagine the chaos, I can't or won't, if millions of drivers were uninsured?

The rise in Health Care premiums, far outweighing the rate of inflation over the past 15 years, was part of the impetus for the effort to Nationalize our Health Care System here in the United States. But the word and or concept of Nationalization though not evil in and of itself sent shivers down the spine of many Americans as well as politician. So what we will be seeing in 2014 and the creation of large statewide insurance exchanges with the premise that with large numbers in a pool, costs will be at least stabilized.

For those of us who currently have some form of Health Care Insurance either through work or on our own; a PPO, HMO or some form of managed care; for all of us double digit premium increases every year are the real inflation, eroding net wages and disposable income.One of the many reasons for the continuous rise in premiums is the social cost of covering the uninsured. Do you now what COST SHIFTING is? It works like this - Hospitals know that a percentage of patients don't have insurance. So what they do is jack up the rates on those of us who do.

This might sound illegal but it's not. Just call the billing office of your local Hospital, Lab or Physicians office and ask if they make this part of their billing equation. If their honest, then you mau be shocked by what you hear.

So, let's hear what you think. We still have two years to go and lot's can happen in the interim. The future is far from certain on this issue.