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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Omar Rahman<br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>Spike, elsewhere you have stated that it's not in the "track team's" interest to sign up for healthcare because they are healthy. This is not true because:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>1) sooner or later the 'track team' will turn into the 'zombies' you talk of<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>2) they will need a functioning health care system to take care of them which can only be built and maintained through constant effort<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>3) I was on the track team (literally) and we're not (all) short sighted jocks, we generally 'grow up' and hopefully grow (very) old and live responsible lives<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>Regards,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>Omar Rahman<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hi Omar, agree to all. I was on the literal cross country team, which is vaguely related to track I suppose, in that both involve running. We used to say the track guys were either immune to boredom or were addicted to having their groupies along the track cheering them on, for their sport really offered little on the way of variety of scenery, while ours offered us nothing for people cheering along the course. There were very few even at the end. Oh well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regarding your contention that the track team will eventually turn into zombies, you are absolutely correct. What I see wrong with our current proposed system is that it overcharges the track team, meaning they will not come. They will wait until they do turn into zombies before they opt in. This has two distinct disadvantages: they will become accustomed to living without health insurance, for it is unclear when they make the transition from track star to zombie; probably whenever the opt-out cost exceeds the insurance bill, or first time they get some serious illness. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Secondly it will cause them to lose their fear of the IRS, since that is the once-respected organization placed in charge of collecting the opt-out fees. The problem is, the law was declared a tax after the fact, against the explicit declaration of the president who claimed it was not a tax. The language of the law is not easily adaptable to a tax; it isn’t adaptable at all. It doesn’t explicitly give the IRS the same authority to collect as it has for other taxes. As if to make matters worse, the language of the ACA makes it inherently difficult to modify, by design. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>When we start from scratch or begin actual health care reform, I suggest we call on the insurance companies to set the price structure, rather than dictate it to them. They know what it really costs; we do not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If we want the track team to come, in their best interest as well as ours, we must first ditch the absurdity of setting price structures. This is an example of a government which presumes to have the expertise to set pricing of risk categories better than the CEO of a health insurance company, when they haven’t even demonstrated expertise in designing a website. We end up with absurdities such as a factor of three maximum between the lowest cost category and the highest. Three? Ask any insurance company CEO, they will likely say that number needs to be at least 10. Three is a joke. There is no possible way those in the lowest cost category will pay that. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The system cannot even deal with the very biggest known health risk: smoking. The 65 year old smoker pays thrice the rate of the 25 year old non-smoker, when their risk cost differs by a factor of nearly 9. The 25 year old track star is not going to willingly pay triple so that the puffing 65 yr old zombie can pay a third of his risk cost. We cannot make them: the tax penalty is meaningless if the IRS cannot collect it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>But now we have a new problem: the IRS has two different levels of authority. To collect income taxes, their authority is iron-fisted totalitarian absolute authority without accountability. To collect opt-out taxes, their authority is to wheedle, cajole and beg. A prole can be imprisoned for failing to pay income taxes, but not for failing to buy health insurance, according to the Supreme Court decision. A private business cannot be padlocked for failure to pay opt-out penalties. Conclusion: the track team will not come; the system will collapse without them. The zombies will come; the system will collapse with them. Meanwhile, insurance policy cancellation notices are flying like the leaves of autumn. We have taken a broken system and broke it worse than it was before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>