Obamacare Skis Down a Slippery Slope
Writing in the New York Times this morning, Richard Thaler attempts to debunk “slippery-slope” arguments claiming Obamacare’s unprecedented individual mandate, if found constitutional, would result in “broccoli mandates” and similar edicts from the federal government. He concludes: “We would be better off as a society if we could collectively agree to ignore all slippery-slope arguments that aren’t accompanied by evidence that said slope exists. If you are opposed to a policy, state your case based on the merits — not on the imagined risk of what else might happen down the road.”
The problem with this attempt to debunk the slippery-slope argument is that Obamacare’s failed CLASS program has already created a slalom-sized example where the federal government could impose more new mandates in order to salvage an otherwise unsustainable program:
- In October, HHS admitted the CLASS program could not be made solvent without a mandate. The report specifically concluded that “because the program is voluntary, a disproportionate number of people who are at high risk of needing long-term care services will enroll.” Mandating participation by all Americans would “fix” this actuarial problem.
- Former Obama Administration budget chief Peter Orszag, writing in Foreign Affairs last June, called for making participation in the CLASS Act mandatory. His article argued that the “only solutions” to make the CLASS program solvent may be “to make the purchase of such insurance mandatory or to require employers to provide it by default unless employees opt out.” Other liberal bloggers have likewise agreed that “if long-term care insurance were subject to an individual mandate, old and sick people would not have been the only people enrolling.”
- The Justice Department already conceded in a Pennsylvania courtroom last July that mandatory long-term care insurance would be constitutional – meaning that if the Supreme Court upholds a mandate to buy health insurance as constitutional, a mandate to buy long-term care insurance would likewise be permitted by the Constitution.
At a hearing last year, HHS officials avoided repeated questions about whether or not the Administration supports mandatory participation in the CLASS Act. The fact that HHS will not unequivocally state that it will NOT consider another unprecedented mandate on all Americans to purchase a product speaks volumes about this Administration’s willingness to impose yet more mandates on the American people should the Supreme Court find the individual mandate constitutional. Or, to put it another way, Richard Thaler should start looking for nearby sporting goods stores, because if the Court upholds Obamacare, the American people will soon be skiing down slippery slopes – with more frightful outcomes ahead.