Paul Krugman, "Broccoli and Bad Faith": No Mention of Medicare Fraud

Yes, I do believe in universal health care; however, I am also appalled when commentators like Paul Krugman ascribe bad faith to Supreme Court justices who dare to question the constitutionality of Obamacare. Moreover, whereas I believe in universal health care, I also believe that America's health care system has been rendered terminally ill by Medicare fraud, which costs the government some $60 billion each year. I view Obamacare as an expensive, ill conceived patch to a faulty mechanism that is hemorrhaging money.

In his New York Times op-ed entitled "Broccoli and Bad Faith" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/opinion/krugman-broccoli-and-bad-faith.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Krugman informs us that Justice Scalia's comparison between the
purchase of health insurance and the purchase of broccoli is inapt:

"When people choose not to buy broccoli, they don’t make broccoli unavailable to those who want it. But when people don’t buy health insurance until they get sick — which is what happens in the absence of a mandate — the resulting worsening of the risk pool makes insurance more expensive, and often unaffordable, for those who remain. As a result, unregulated health insurance basically doesn’t work, and never has."

Sorry, Paul, but I disagree. When people buy Cheetos, Twinkies, Bacon and Bud instead of broccoli, they are indeed worsening the risk pool and making insurance more expensive. Does this mean that the federal government should be allowed to demand the purchase of, or subsidize, broccoli, while banning or penalizing sales of Cheetos? If the government were to seek to deprive me of my ice cream habit, I would probably take up arms.

Bottom line: I am less concerned with the Supreme Court decision, and more concerned with the fact that the system is "broken" and requires a major overhaul. Obamacare, constitutional or not, only aggravates a problem that threatens the US with financial collapse, which could deny health care to all Americans.