In a post, he lays out a few facts and then fails to complete his thoughts to their logical conclusion. For example, he writes:
The key thing to understand in the coverage debate has always been that it costs surprisingly little to cover the uninsured. For the most part, the uninsured are relatively young, and hence have relatively low medical costs. Also, they receive a fair amount of uncompensated care, as well as spending funds out of pocket. So even if you ignore the possible monetary gains from preventive care, avoiding emergency room visits, and so on, we’re not talking about a vast rise in health care spending.This is all true. But he fails to state one key fact and draw out the necessary conclusions from these facts. The youth are not going to be charged very low rates because of the low cost to insure them. Open free market insurance for youth will not be allowed. They will be a higher rate than would occur on the open market. By charging the young more than what the open market would charge, the charge to youth under Obamacare is a subsidy of the elderly that is being forced on the youth. This is why the youth are being forced into Obamacare. Krugman by detailing the facts above has to know this. However, he trumpets the low medical coverage costs of youth, but evil bastard that he is, he doesn't lay out the expensive dollar consequences to youth.
Further, he trumpets the cost savings that Obamacare will bring:
... this reform makes the first serious effort, ever, to rein in costs.The man has a Nobel Prize in economics, so I'm guessing he might know that the costs that Obamacare "reins in" will mean fewer options than before and a cut in healthcare service. But, again, he fails to draw out the conclusion from the facts he states. (Although in this case, I believe he is wrong that costs will decline. It will be much worse. The politically tied in will be able to increase rates and cut service).
He also left out another important cost: liberty.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I get the feeling, one day we'll all be saying,"man, they sure do have it good down in Venezuela"