I agree if you kill the mandate, you've effectively gutted Obamacare.
The only way to have fairly low premiums for the sick is to get the healthy to buy into the pool (make them buy more insurance than they would in a free market).
And I don't see how that's going to work in any market that even hopes to be competitive.
The problem we all have with health insurance is that unlike other kinds of insurance - you really need to have it. You don't HAVE to have auto insurance because you can always NOT drive.
You don't HAVE to have life insurance, but it's kind of nice. You don't have to have flood insurance - but if you live in a flood plain it's probably a good idea (but it is stupid to compel people who will NEVER experience a flood to buy it also).
Because it's not so much "insurance" as it is a "health plan". And that is partly to blame because of what we've allowed to evolve. No one can afford monthly doctor visits without insurance. I sure can't.
I've SEEN the Explanation of Benefits statements. I can't BELIEVE the costs of medical testing. But they're tests that doctors order because they know they're "free". And the visits cost a fortune because we've allowed it to get that way.
And the doctor's costs are outrageous because he has to cover the cost of several staff who do nothing but work the insurance system of paperwork and regulations.
I for one wouldn't mind SOME kind of oversight similar to what France has - they have an oversight board which regulates the costs of medical expenses going to insurance - to keep them SOMEWHAT standard.
Is there really a reason why a five second blood test costs 500 bucks? Does a doctor really need to charge 100+ bucks for a two minute visit where the rest of his staff do everything else?
Unlike say, fast food or other retail where the market determines who can charge 3 bucks for a burger and who will survive charging 10 - these kinds of things are not expose to ANY kind of market force.
And they need to be. If they can't, they're essentially a monopoly and need oversight.