Proposition 13 and Obamacare

So Slick Willy came out and said that President Obama ought to allow people to keep their health insurance if they like it, just as he had promised. The President agreed. Say they did that and allowed all policies to be grandfathered in.

What happens to the new policies, the ones with no grandfathering?

Here in California, we have the same kind of thing with property taxes under Proposition 13. Rate hikes and reassessments were limited due to government abuse back in the 70s and now we have identical houses right next to each other with wildly different tax bills because one has remained in the same hands and the other has been sold at least once - selling being one of those times when the state can reassess your property.

Very quickly, the inequities of grandfathered health insurance will be obvious. Some middle-aged men will be paying for Sandra Flukey coverage - birth control, abortions, mental health treatment for delusional disorders - and some won't. How's that going to play out and for how long? Do you get to keep your grandfathered policies forever? Do 70-year-old widowers see gynecologist coverage slowly phased in over 5 years so that their non-grandfathered poker buddies don't get too upset over their higher premiums?

Crazy stuff to think about, man.

The coolest thing of all is that whatever exceptions and modifications are being written, they are happening in the middle of a huge crisis where the time to react is short. That's bound to result in some fun unintended consequences.

Change things? Nonsense! Everyone needs ho-surance!