In part, Replacement wrote:
" Re Obamacare, I am coming to the conclusion that we need a mandatory national plan (similar to Medicare) with involvement of for-profit insurers, but with strict regulation as a public utility."
Well said!! This is close to the Swiss model and it works well.
re someone else's comment on my lawn guy - yes, health care insurance will be available but it will also be mandatory and that takes it off the table as a hiring chip. Yes, he will still be the lawn guy but that's the nature of his business. It is the nature of any one-man business that depends upon the guy's manual labor - if he breaks a leg in late June he's screwed; if he needs a liver transplant he's screwed. The guy he bought the lawn business from runs an excavating company with a partner. If one of them gets laid up the biz will survive. Lawn man badly needs to become at least a 2-man operation.
By the way, Replacement, thank you for your analysis of Medicare pay-ins.
He, the lawn guy, is not competitive (he doesn't offer enough compensation) in the labor market now and Obamacare won't change that.
He could still run his business with broken bones but someone needing a liver transplant probably doesn't need the stress of self employment. Partnerships rarely work.
