In the biggest move of the night, the president did a 180 and supported a mandate that would require everyone to carry health insurance. That's a huge win for health insurers, because it increases the number of potential customers, and it will allow the companies to decrease costs. The insured indirectly pay about $1,000 per year for costs that hospitals and doctors use to provide services to the uninsured. If everyone is insured, those savings can be passed along through lower premiums.
The other big win for insurers -- and taxpayers, for that matter -- was that a government-sponsored public plan won't be supported by the government; the premiums collected will have to cover the medical costs. If the companies can work more efficiently than the government -- and I think they can -- the companies should be able to compete with a not-for-profit entity.
Obamacare: Something for Everyone to Hate, oddly enough titled.
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