If the current Senate healthcare bill passes, I – and millions of other Americans – will drop our health insurance the day it comes into law. And for this reason, it will ultimately destroy America’s health care industry.

Let it not be forgotten that the radical-ideological attack on free-market healthcare that underpins so-called healthcare “reform” by Obama-Pelosi-Reid was always a two step attack. First, destroy free market insurance. Second, set up a government-run program to fill the void.
 
Removal of the public option in the Senate bill delays step two, but the destruction of private health insurance means a government-run plan will almost become inevitable.
Why? Let me explain.
 
There are two key parts to the proposed legislation:
1)The individual mandate which means that if you choose not to receive insurance, you will have to pay an income surtax, (generally) maxing out at 2% of income (you can view a schedule of how much this will be here)
2)Non-denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. This means that if you have no insurance, and contract an illness, you must be given coverage.
 
So. What would any rational person do?

The answer is simple. They would not insure themselves, and pay the tax for non-insurance. Why? Because this tax would be considerably less than most family or individual insurance plans. According to the AHIP Center for Policy Analysis, nationwide, annual premiums averaged $2,985 for single coverage and $6,328 for family plans in mid-2009. As such, paying the fine would be more worth it for individuals making less than $149,250 and families making less than $316,400 (which would cover about 99% of all households in the United States). This is not considering employee-provided healthcare, where premiums are considerably higher!

 
As such therefore, it would be in the interests of most rational Americans to not be insured, and as soon as they contract a serious illness, however, they would instantly sign up for insurance, and the law would force them to be covered. And have all their expenses paid for, even though they did not contribute anything to the insurance plan prior to contracting the illness. Then, as soon as their illness is cured, they would once again drop the insurance, having paid for only a fraction of the potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars treatment would cost.
 
The result? The individual free-rides off others and premiums skyrocket. As more and more people realize they can do this, the pool of paying insurance customers will dwindle, and costs will skyrocket even further. So fewer people will sign up for coverage, and ultimately, insurance companies will go bankrupt. The end result? Politicians will don shining armor and ride out to ‘save’ the people, with government run-healthcare, thereby “solving” a problem they created in the first place.
 
So do not be fooled by the rhetoric. This bill will destroy healthcare, and will lead to government run healthcare within a decade. There is no other explanation possible.