All of our little crystal balls aren't worth jackshit.

[cali]

the truth is, no one knows what the effects of this legislation will be- beyond there being millions more (enforced) clients for the insurance companies.

We don't know whether it will hurt or help the average person.

We don't know whether it will spell political doom for the dems.

The predictions are flying around wildly but the bottom line is we just don't know.

[ixion]

1. it's not much of a "prediction" to imagine how an already financially stressed populace

is going to receive a mandate to purchase a crappy, over-priced product from a private company or pay a fine.

That is not going to go over well at all.

[regnaD kciN]

5. Let's swing that around a different way...

How is the American consumer going to react to government subsidies that may well reduce their own out-of-pocket premium cost, as well as an improvement in the quality of coverage, countered by a "mandate" with enough exemptions to ensure that a large majority of Americans will never have to pay a nickel in penalties?

[ixion]

8. well, in a perfect world that may be the case

I seriously doubt that's the way it will end up. This bill wasn't written for the consumer. It was written for the insurance companies.

Mandates are a loss of liberty, and will not go over well, in my opinion.

[depakid]

2. One crystal ball you can count on

Health insurers will continue to make out like bandits, millions of ostensibly insured will be forced into bankruptcy over medical bills, claims will continue to be denied in bad faith (with no recourse) and the cost of health care in America will continue to increase as a percentage of GDP.

A smart move by a savvy investor would have been to buy up health insurance stocks when some thought the Dems might actually pass effective policy- because they're been looking pretty good- and will likely continue to rise over the next several years.

But hey! They're "not bad people" - so why not?

[regnaD kciN]

6. Have you even read the terms of the final bill...?

Health insurers will continue to make out like bandits, millions of ostensibly insured will be forced into bankruptcy over medical bills, claims will continue to be denied in bad faith (with no recourse) and the cost of health care in America will continue to increase as a percentage of GDP.

Because several of the points you make above are flat-out false, which could be confirmed by a knowledge of what was in the bill itself.

[pampango]

3. Our crystal balls are pretty good at telling us what we want them to tell us.

They know which scenario fits our own politics and wishes/fears.

[rpannier]

4. It's very true

But if the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill is anything to go by, It'll be bad

on note: I rec'd the thread because I find unrecing a thread like this to be immature.
All this thread did is point out the obvious

I've said on numerous occasions when you've picked the winning numbers in the lottery a few times come back and tell me about it

[travelingtypist]

7. Well, I didn't get what I wanted.

And yet I cried a little when this vote came up with it was successful. Can't quite reconcile the contradiction to myself yet, if they were tears of joy or rage. I really do feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football -- I'm still hopeful that the final version won't be as bad as this.

[ipaint]

9. Who needs a crystal ball.

The working class knows exactly how this will turn out. Just like nafta, welfare reform and deregulation. The rich win, the comfortable middle class gets another free ticket to ignore and ostracize those in the lower classes (deadbeats) that don't "pull their own health mandate weight" and the struggling lower classes will get screwed.

Same old same old.

[gratuitous]

10. I'll bet you a $5 donation to DU

That the most onerous, crappy, regressive portions of the proposals floating around might as well be cast in stone. And just like "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and NAFTA, there will promises of more, better improvements to come.

Well, DADT is still the stupid, bass-ackwards way we deal with gays in the military. Those vaunted "side agreements" to NAFTA that were supposed to guarantee worker rights and protect the environment? They don't even debate that anymore, much less propose anything. Insurance mandates will expand, fines for the recalcitrant will grow, pre-existing conditions will accrue, and denials for "fraud" will balloon ("You never disclosed that you had an appendix! Coverage for your emergency appendectomy denied. Besides, there was no surgical pre-certification. Denied!").