Yikes

Megan McArdle asks why no one has signed up for the high-risk insurance pools.

The high-risk pools, which were meant to tide people over until 2013, have signed up just 18,000 people as of March.

There were supposed to be millions of people who were uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions. We heard lengthy testimony about their terrible plight. I don't think it's too strong to say that this fear--that you could get sick and no one would insure you, that's right, you, Mr. & Mrs. Middle-Class Voter--was one of the main reasons offered for the health care overhaul.

Eeek. What happened to the other 95% of people who badly need insurance?

Note: Proposition 13 passed in California in 1978 to make property tax increases small. This of course set off a wave of Propositions and underfunded the CA public schools as this is where the money used to go. CA used to have the best public schools in the country and in one generation dropped to last so property owners didn't have to pay too much tax. But the crazy story is that not a single Californian had lost their home due to property tax increases. Californians were super afraid about the increasing taxes, yet we overreacted and gutted our schools as a result. Point is this: we overreact to certain fears, particular fears that conjure up emotions, ie not covering folks with pre-existing conditions and losing our houses.