The June 30, 2010 Boston Globe reports that as a results of the MA mandatory insurance system, more people are "gaming the system" and purchasing insurance only when they are ill. Then they drop the coverage (and pay the penalty) when they don't need insurance.
Hence, the combination of laws (including "mandatory" insurance and guaranteed issue) drives up insurance prices for others who don't game the system. Or as the article notes, "The result is that insured residents of Massachusetts wind up paying more for health care".
Americans in the other 49 states should be prepared for a similar phenomenon as ObamaCare is phased in nationally.
As with the housing crisis, those who are honest and attempt to "play by the rules" (and purchase insurance) will subsidize those who violate the irrational government rules by gaming the system. Whenever the law perversely pit people's sense of morality and fairness against their economic self-interest, this is a recipe for disaster.
The blog of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM)
