General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If ACA is struck down, are you really so naive as to think single-payer will come to the rescue? [View all]Spike89
(1,569 posts)This half-step did not ensconce the insurance industry in the driver's seat forever. Rather, it set in a framework for easily transitioning to a public option which is a step toward full single payer. I was very much hoping that we could at least take a full step in the start and have at least some type of public option, but the political will simply wasn't (and IMO still isn't) there.
If this law is overturned, it will be harder, not easier to take that first full step, much less the two steps required to reach a civilized national health system. The states will be left with the impossible task of implementing their own systems. The problem of course with that approach is that if a state implements single payer it becomes a magnet for the sick and the costs potentially rise so fast that your tax rate pushes away business/jobs and the spiral pulls down the whole thing.
You almost must have regional multi-state plans. Still, you are likely to end up with the same situation we have currently with blue states subsidizing the red ones. The red states will crow about their "freedom from socialized medicine" and low taxes for the rich while the mouth-breathing tea-party idjits that live there will think nothing of crossing the border into the nearest blue area for some cheap/free medical care.
I really don't see anything good possibly arising from the courts killing this bill.