I can't believe some Libs/Progressives here would rather see the ACA struck down

[dawg]

17. I disagree, and I shall explain why.

First off, I generally respect any opinion that you have. I've read enough to know how smart you are, and I hope that you're right.

But this isn't a crisis yet to most people. No, strike through "people" in the last sentence and replace with "voters".

50% of the country doesn't vote, and as far as Congress is concerned, they don't exist. Most of the uninsured probably fit into this category.

Most middle-class voters still have health insurance. And in the cases where the insurance is deficient, most of them don't realize it because they haven't got sick yet.

The pre-ACA status quo was what is technically called a death spiral. As insurance became more unaffordable, more and more healthy people opted out, leaving a risk pool that was significantly sicker, causing yet another increase in premiums, causing more healthy people to drop, etc. etc.

That death spiral will resume if the ACA is overturned. In fact, it hasn't really abated to begin with. Not enough went into place to stop it. But it will take a period of many, many years for it to get to the point where most middle-class voters can't get insured. And even then, it will somehow be blamed on liberals.

Who knows, Republicans may even get to use the resultant crisis to "reform" Medicare! They could blame rising premiums on the cost-shift effect of inadequate Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

No. We'll not get anything good out of this. We're not smart enough to do so. Not as a country, and certainly not as a political party.