June 4, 2012 11:29AM 

# Why ObamaCare Won’t Help the Sick 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

The *Financial Times* published my [letter to the editor](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebbf385c-a9a1-11e1-9772-00144feabdc0.html) \[$\]:

> Sir, “[Imminent ‘ObamaCare’ ruling poses challenge for Republicans](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3cc37670-a5c2-11e1-b77a-00144feabdc0.html)” \[$\] (May 25) doesn’t quite capture my views when it reports that I believe “resurrecting protections for patients with pre-existing conditions would be wrong.” ObamaCare is wrong precisely because those provisions will *not* protect patients with pre-existing conditions.
> 
> 
> Those “protections” are nothing more than government price controls that force carriers to sell insurance to the sick at a premium far below the cost of the claims they incur. As a result, whichever carrier attracts the most sick patients goes out of business. The ensuing race to the bottom will even harm sick Americans who currently have secure coverage.
> 
> 
> The debate over ObamaCare is not between people who care and people who don’t care. It is between people who know how to help the sick, and those who don’t.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).