The CLASS Act: This is confidence-inspiring?

One of the law’s biggest supporters offers reason to think the Hail Mary strategy won’t work. MIT economist Jonathan Gruber projects the law will increase net premiums for six out of 10 people in Wisconsin’s individual market by an average of 31 percent. (A study of Obamacare’s impact on Ohio projected much larger premium increases for many individuals and businesses.) That is, low-risk people will still have plenty of reason to walk away. And insofar as the Hail Mary succeeds in delaying collapse, the growth in health insurance premiums will accelerate.

Klein writes, “One way of looking at the administration’s [CLASS] decision is that it shows a commitment to fiscal responsibility.” If so, then let’s handle the rest of Obamacare exactly the same way. Congress should require Obamacare’s health insurance provisions to be voluntary and self-sustaining, just like CLASS: no individual mandate, no taxpayer subsidies.

Or is fiscal irresponsibility part of the plan?

Michael F. Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and coauthor of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.