For those of you dreaming of single-payer/Medicaid for all

[Nuclear Unicorn]

Keep dreaming.

You see, we aren't going to get this new system until the old system passes away. Except the old system isn't going to be allowed to pass away. It will receive more money to stay on life support than you yourself could expect if the roles were reversed --

Obama asked the CEOs to reinstate millions of Americans’ health insurance plans that were canceled because they fell short of coverage requirements under the law, according to two executives who attended the session Friday.
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The president offered the execs some sweeteners, but admitted they won’t necessarily add up to enough to cover the full brunt of added costs that the changes to the insurance market could create.

...

“As the president emphasized, there is not an unlimited amount of money out there for the government to do that [make up for extra costs],” said Jim Roosevelt, CEO of Tufts Health Plan, one of more than a dozen insurance company leaders who attended the 90-minute meeting.

...

The 2010 health law had several tools aimed at helping insurers through some of the fiscal bumps in the new markets. To address the industry concerns about additional costs if they revive the canceled plans, administration officials said last week they would tweak one of those tools — called “risk corridors” — to give them more help. But Obama made clear that the financial support has a limit, according to the two health executives and several other industry sources who were briefed on the meeting.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/health-care-insurers-meeting-barack-obama-100028.html#ixzz2l8rbfy4v

That's right. The taxpayers will now be subsidizing these so-called "junk policies." (Disclosure -- I dispute this rhetorical dismissal but that's a different argument.)

These policies were supposedly so bad that people who wanted pay for them on their own, all by themselves, were told by force of law they were no longer allowed to do so. Now, not only will these "junk policies" be allowed back on the market (by executive fiat, meaning any future GOPer president could do likewise) but now the taxpayers will be paying for market disruptions, not just the policy holders.

And what has brought us to this lowly place?

Simple. The ACA relies not on giving people healthcare but rather health insurance. Which means you need insurance companies. If you need insurance companies for the law to work you need them to remain profitable. If they remain profitable they get to stay around. If they stay around how can you make a reasonable argument they should be replaced? If you allow them to fail then people get angry the government cost them their insurance as we see from the blowback that prompted this executive declaration in the first place.

Your insurance agent will see you now --