By Matt Holdridge<\/p>\n
From Dan McCarthy at the American Conservative<\/em>:<\/p>\n Whether it’s called Obamacare<\/a> or Romneycare<\/a>, and whether it’s right-wing or left-wing, the further cartelization of the healthcare system is a very bad idea. In exchange for extending coverage to high-risk individuals, the insurance industry is promised guaranteed profits from a consumer base — that is, people like you and me — that is legally compelled to purchase its product. As with any massively centralized compulsory system, no one can no how it will all work out: perhaps the insurance companies really will lose money in the end. But as we move further away from a free market, the usual kinds of competitive pressures that keep costs down and quality high will be further attenuated; the only sure losers here are the consumers.<\/p>\n Although it doesn’t matter whether a bad idea is right-wing or left-wing, it might as well be pointed out that Obamacare has a great deal in common not only with what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts but also with what George W. Bush wanted to do with the Social Security system<\/a>.<\/p>\n …In short, it was a choice between an old-fashioned wealth transfer and a newfangled forced-savings scheme<\/a>, one that would have involved the same cartelization risks as Obamacare does.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n