Healthcare bill to negatively impact the housing market

BoxheadTim wrote: While I agree that this is a cost-shifting measure to a certain extent, more insured employees would normally mean that while the cost goes up for the employer, the cost savings for the hospital will be much greater than what the employers are paying. So in theory this should lead to lower costs for the health insurance (fewer uninsured people = fewer writedowns by the hospital) so unless the saved money mysteriously disappears somewhere, it should mean that the overall cost to the economy is considerably less than it is now. In practice, I'm not holding my breath.

Required insurance has always been touted as a way to bring everyone's insurance costs down, due to not having to subsidize the uninsured, and having more people to spread the risk around on.

In practice, no one's insurance cost for anything has gone down due to requiring insurance.

Never saw a penny's drop in auto insurance costs when the states decided to require insurance in order to register a car... but that was the tagline used to get that legislation through.

Chris_V wrote: Never saw a penny's drop in auto insurance costs when the states decided to require insurance in order to register a car... but that was the tagline used to get that legislation through.

Yes but as a corollary my car insurance in South Carolina, a state that allows people to register as an uninsured motorist, was DOUBLE what my insurance costs in Connecticut.

(probably the only thing that is cheaper about living in CT)

In reply to ignorant:

Changing localities always have an effect on rate: my insurance in MD was considerably higher on the same car as it was in Washington state, and MD requires insurance to register a car, too. Washington didn't used to, but the rates did not go down when proof of insurance became a requirement.

The point was when the states made the switch from non-required to required, the insurance still went up.

Chris_V wrote: The point was when the states made the switch from non-required to required, the insurance still went up.

yup not disagreeing with you..

But from what I've been told by my MetLife agent, Allowing folks to refuse insurance in SC is what makes the rates so high. well, that and Hurricanes.

Personally, I LOVE the fact that the imperial federal government is forcing me to buy health insurance. After all, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know what's best for me, and obviously, I'm too stupid to go out and do it on my own. I really wish they'd ban alcohol and cigarettes so that I'd be forced to stop...wait! They could just take over the alcohol and cigarette companies! I'm sure smokes and booze would be way less expensive then, and the government would probably find a way to make them GOOD for you!

I also love the brass ring they've pierced my nose with. Every couple years, they'll give it a little tug, offering me more FREE stuff! Eventually, they can take care of my kids from the day they're born till the day they die!

aircooled wrote: Not sure what the motivation is behind it, but I suspect it has something to do with what Snowdoggie said. Construction is an inherently dangerous profession.

It's dumb.

So, our government is now encouraging small construction companies to hire illegals and pay them in inappropriate ways.

Builder #1: Hires 6 people, does his best to help the economy recover by creating jobs and paying fair wages, is forced to pay extra for costly health insurance, and goes broke because he can't sell his product competing against Builder #2.

While....

Builder #2: Hires 14 illegal immigrants for less than minimum wage, no benefits, pays them cash, exports what little money he pays his workers to Mexico (or other), avoids health coverage insurance because they are off the books and therefore don't count as "real" employees, passes off their medical costs on the emergency room (paid by government programs), sells his poorly constructed inexpensive house quickly, and wins the second contract Builder #1 was hoping for because Builder #1 is now bankrupt, all 6 of his talented hard working employees are wards of the state on unemployment and the bank owns his overpriced house but is profiting enormously by writing it down using government bailout money.

Good plan, Congress. CHANGE we can BELIEVE in.