But the President’s concession is still dangerous because it opens the door for Republicans to argue that people ought to be able to choose whatever health insurance policy they want – next year and beyond. Not only would this undermine the minimum standards in the Act. It would also enable healthier people to leave those who are sicker or with pre-existing health problems behind in the new federal system. The obvious result would be to drive up premiums and costs of the federal system so high it couldn’t be maintained. Remember: The Act requires insurance companies to take people with pre-existing conditions and bars them from dropping policies of people who become seriously ill. Republicans have never supported this. They apparently don’t give a damn about these people, and don’t want healthier and younger people to have to subsidize them. They prefer social Darwinism, survival of the fittest.