CRS Confirms: People Will Avoid the Individual Mandate

Last week I wrote about the certainty that Americans, particularly those younger, healthier Americans who insurance companies need to buy coverage in order to sustain President Obama’s new health care regime, will game the new system of individual mandates, just as they have in Massachusetts.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service, released to Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, details the near certainty that this situation will be gamed by the American people to an unprecedented degree — including drawing out a few fascinating points which weren’t discussed to any great detail during the legislative process. The report paints a far worse picture of the likelihood of gaming the system — rather than just those younger Americans I suggested would choose month to month liquidity over the cost of insurance, this suggests that several other groups will have incentives to game the system.
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