I get the message. Some folks are fine with violating the Constitution if it means killing or spying, but they think that our nation will go to hell in a hand basket if Obama seizes extra executive powers in order to save lives. i.e. he allows the uninsured to sign up for Medicare. I am not sure that I understand the logic behind this, but let's pretend for a moment that we live in a country where the president is expected to obey the law of the land (try not to snicker) and that the Constitution makes absolutely no allowance for times of crisis or national emergency, because it is better that we all die than that the letter of the law is tweaked even a teeny little bit.
Here is Plan B. It is not as sensible as Plan A---Medicare for all those whom the health insurance industry has failed to serve---but it is 100% legal.
Remember how we were told that federal employees including members of Congress have excellent insurance that does not discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions? Remember how we were told that if the free market (no laughing!) did not step up to the plate, then the companies that sell insurance to the federal government would enroll U.S. citizens, too? I remember. It sounded like a decent idea then and it sounds like an even better idea now.
Here is how it works. If HealthInsuranceRUs--hereafter to be called HIRUs--- is collecting big premiums from federal employees--most of whom are healthy---then it will be asked to collect premiums from U.S. Citizens whose insurance companies dropped them suddenly, out of the blue, just when it became clear that the insurance exchanges were already overburdened and adding millions of more uninsured would make everything worse for everyone.
HIRUS will then face a dilemma. Does it Just Say No---and lose its lucrative federal contract? Or, does it say "Sure thing, Mr. President, we will be happy to write policies for those millions of Americans who were healthy enough that some other insurer was willing to write them a policy"? If I were an HIRUs executive, I would be more than happy for the extra business---and the goodwill that I would create with the federal government officials who would just naturally think of HIRUs when---note, I write "when" not "if"---Medicare finally becomes universal and some health care giant gets a contract to run it.
In the unlikely event that HIRUs says "Sorry, Mr. President, but we are already too busy and making too much money. You will have to get some other health insurance company to collect all those premiums from all those healthy federal employees" I would then accept bids from other health insurance companies. And, in the very, very unlikely event that no one wants all that money, I would announce "Hey, federal employees are now self insured. We're going to pool all our money and get some folks in the government to help manage our health care spending. Oh, look. We already employee a bunch of folks over at Health and Human Services. Let's contract them (at cost) to run our self insurance plan. And while we are at it, let's invite everyone who got dumped by their private company and everyone whose state refused to set up an exchange to join our great big Not-Medicare Federal-Employee-HealthInsurance RUs."
I see nothing in this plan to offend anyone--except a bunch of health insurance industry executives who currently are under the mistaken impression that they have the nation by the balls hanging over a cliff at the bottom of which burns a large and nasty bonfire.
PS As requested, here is a link about Federal Employee Health Insurance for those who do not have Google or a similar search engine. Note the part about how much money participating insurance companies rake in and how little they pay out in medical expenses. I will be very surprised if NONE of the 250 companies involved wants a piece of this pie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...