From the Al-Jazeera opinion page : Refusing to buy health insurance may be Millenials only political hope

[mota bhai 2,675]

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), the keystone to the president’s legacy, needs buy-in from millennials more than anyone else. The question is whether we will — or should — show up.

For any group insurance policy to work, it needs a diversified risk pool, and the ACA is no exception. The mix of enlistees has to include people who tend to be healthy, like young people, to offset those who are more likely to get sick, such as those who are older.

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Among millennials, there’s an evident lack of faith in the government. How could there not be? Candidate Obama talked a big game on unemployment, student debt, climate change, electoral reform and economic inequality. But five years after his election, the country has little to show for it. The national feeling of dread Obama promised to alleviate is alive and well. And now the government is calling for young people to pay for the care of older people.

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If millennials were any other demographic, the Obama administration would reach out to our interest groups and sweeten the deal until they could be sure enough of us would sign up. The AARP exists, in theory, for this very reason — to corral retirees into a useful political bloc. But millennials don’t really have interest groups, and as far as the major political parties are concerned, young Americans don’t even have interests worth weighing. We exist to be educated and marketed to. We are debt-ridden and underpaid, and the media can’t decide whether they’d rather hate, pity or fear us. Currently, our best leverage is that we’re less likely to be hospitalized than other Americans.

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Two million young people ... who promise not to enroll in “Obamacare” could effectively hold the program hostage. Since the ACA relies heavily on public confidence, that puts us in a strong negotiating position. Even the suggestion that a large number of young people would intentionally withhold our support could doom the program.

The belief that young people are apathetic toward politics usually hurts our political bargaining power. If we’re unlikely to vote, there’s no reason to pander. But in this case, our so-called apathy is a blessing. The possibility of total inaction on the ACA gives us enormous leverage. It’s time to use it do what every other interest group in American politics does: Demand everything.

Demand that the Department of Labor crack down on illegal internships and other forms of wage theft. Demand that the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act get a fair vote on the Senate floor. Demand that Congress cap tuition-increase rates at universities receiving Pell Grant money. Demand a jobs program, legal marijuana, a guaranteed minimum income. Hell, demand a trillion dollars; it worked out great for the banks. Don’t sign up for “Obamacare” until they meet these demands and then some.

The only way to get our way in American politics is threaten to burn the whole house down. And when older adults inevitably chide us for taking irresponsible and selfish risks with the country’s future, we can always remind them who taught us how.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/12/millennials-holdobamacarehostage.html

[Danno 1,228]

"The Affordable Care Act (ACA), the keystone to the president’s legacy, needs buy-in from millennials more than anyone else. The question is whether we will — or should — show up."

First thing is the ACA is not a "keystone" as Obama has no other Stones even after five years. Nothing real or meaningful has been accomplished in 5 years, not reviving the economy, not Gun control, not getting green energy out of the barn (or off the floor), not even closing Gitmo.

So the writer misunderstands this essential reality.

Secondly, to suggest any block of people are going boycott the ACA is like suggesting tax payers could boycott paying taxes (which is what ACA is).

They got us, and the penalty will ratchet up to make all comply and the cost of it will rise (for all) and 2 decades down the road we will ask -Why did we do all this to simply provide coverage for the few people who were uninsured at the time?