What if congressional democrats and the administration used the republican initiative to repeal health reform by discarding the individual mandate?
Forcing Americans to buy health insurance from rip-off providers doesn’t sit well with many advocates and also polls horribly.
Keep in mind that in defeating the pubic option, reform opponents got just what they needed:
An ineffectual, confusing and weak-kneed policy which doesn’t control medical costs or premiums - and can’t hold insurance carriers accountable by forcing competition with a government-funded program.
I have no idea how to keep the good things such as protecting people with pre-existing conditions once this can of worms is open.
But I don’t want to see democrats or this president choking on the individual mandate in 2012.
Of course, by then, it’s possible that the Supreme Court will have decided on its constitutionality.
Worst case scenario:
The conservative majority on the high court uses this case to restrict and confine the federal government’s overall capacity to protect the public’s health and safety.