Mandates and the public plan

Dean Baker points out that progressives should not be so quick to demand mandates that everyone have health insurance if the insurance industry's employees in Congress can't push through a public plan.

So, in a context where a public plan looks to be dead in the water -- thank you Kent Conrad -- the question is whether progressives should support a regressive tax, the proceeds of which goes to the insurance industry.

If we get the sort of insurance reform that President Obama has proposed, then mandates, or something very much like them, will be necessary at some point. But they will not be necessary from day 1. After all, not everyone is going to rush out to game the insurance system. It will take some period of time before the number of free riders grows enough to be a real problem.

We know that it will be necessary to revisit health care in the not too future in any case. The lack of mandates will help to ensure that this date comes sooner. Then we can talk about measures that will allow us to control costs, like a robust public plan.

But, if we can't get a public plan in this round, why should progressives be pushing for a regressive tax that will go into the pockets of the insurance companies and their overpaid CEOs? Let the insurance companies try to make a living in the market, when they grow up and feel strong enough to compete with a public plan, then we can have mandates.