When it comes to trying to decide what the worst part of Obamacare is, there’s no shortage of contenders. From a constitutional standpoint, the worst part is its unprecedented individual mandate. From the standpoint of the republic’s overall well-being, the worst part is its consolidation and centralization of power. From the standpoint of preserving the high quality of American medicine, the worst part is its determination to move doctors out of private practice and make them hospital employees (the better to control them). And from a cost standpoint, the worst part is its effective ban on the traditional idea of insurance—for since at least the Renaissance, insurance has been something that one must buy before the thing happens that one is protecting against.

Obamacare outlaws this traditional understanding of insurance, requiring instead that insurers cover all comers at essentially any time, at no additional cost. Those who wait until they’re already sick or injured to buy “insurance” can’t be charged any more than those who have maintained insurance all along. Imagine if one could wait to buy homeowners insurance until one’s house is on fire, or could wait to buy life insurance from one’s deathbed, paying the same price as someone who’s the picture of good health. Think prices would rise? That’s what Obamacare does with health insurance.