Today I finally read the actual text of the Op-Ed piece by Laurence H. Tribe in the New York Times. As part of his justification for the Individual Mandate he actually makes the case that the health care law is little different from Social Security. Based on this association it is very small step for a person to conclude that Laurence expects the new health care law to look and act just like Social Security. Although Laurence may be comfortable with associating health care to Social Security, this is the last thing many people want to hear as health care reform. Social Security has the well deserved reputation of an entitlement that has been remarkably impervious to cost control. The idea of PPACA becoming another entitlement like Social Security is not only politically unacceptable but it extinguishes all hope of reining in rising health care costs.
For the system to work, all individuals ”” healthy and sick, risk-prone and risk-averse ”” must participate to the extent of their economic ability.
In this regard, the health care law is little different from Social Security.