TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Consumers in Massachusetts are gaming mandated health insurance:

Baker’s data showed that about 40 percent of the consumers who purchased insurance from Harvard Pilgrim on the open market kept the insurance fewer than five months, and they incurred, on average, $2,400 a month in medical expenses — about six times higher than the monthly spending of other consumers.

Besides the mandate violating individual rights (just a small issue), the largest problem with banning discrimination against those with preexisting conditions and requiring individuals to purchase health insurance is exactly what’s happening in Massachusetts: the mandate can be taken advantage of at the expense of insurers. Effectively, individuals are using laws that require insurers to cover them to force insurers to pay for expensive procedures, then are dropping coverage so they don’t have to pay premiums.

A much simpler solution would be to make catastrophic plans easily available, reduce health care costs through reform, provide individuals the same tax advantages on health care costs that employers enjoy, and subsidize those with preexisting conditions. But the mandate is the path Democrats insisted upon, and now we’ll have to deal with the consequences.