Is Required Health Insurance A Tax Increase?

President Obama doesn’t seem to think so (of course, it IS his idea).  The question remains – does requiring everyone to carry health insurance – similar to laws regarding auto insurance, constitute what can be considered as a tax increase?

From the CNN Article:

He noted that consumers currently pay higher health insurance premiums due to the costs run up by hospitals and other facilities providing care to uninsured people.

My concern with this approach, however, is that the costs aren’t only driven up by folks without insurance, but they are also driven up by people who take advantage of their health insurance plans. For example, people who go to the emergency room for non-emergency services (bad colds, ankle sprains, etc..).

We are quick to chastise the insurance companies as we debate the causes of our health care crisis – but we also need to make sure we look at ourselves when discussing ways to make the health care system work better.

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