Why does this matter? Because people like Ms. Ward are in the individual market, and insurers individually underwrite each applicant – and refuse those who are bad risks. Come 2014 … they cannot refuse any applicant. And they may no longer charge different premiums for patients with varying health histories.

This is, it must be understood, how large insurers currently work. If you go work for Boeing, they don’t ask you before you are hired whether your wife has breast cancer. All employees get charged the same, and the premiums for the entire pool adjust to cover the aggregate cost. All the PPACA does here is bring the same rules that the group market already works under to the individual market.

This really will make the difference in the lives of so many Americans. And there is so much more. The requirement that insurers must spend 80% of premiums on actual health care. The prohibition on insurance “takebacks,” or recissions. The expansion of coverage for kids. The requirement that premium increases must be reasonable and justified. Increased funding for primary care and community health clinics. And on and on.

So the next time you are inclined to go off on a spittle-flecked rant over the individual mandate (and I’ve emitted a few of my own), just pause and take a moment to remember that there is a lot more in this law. Regardless of the fate of the mandate, we should all be hoping that Justice Kennedy lets the rest of the law stand

This recurring feature will present posts by various EM bloggers. Read the original post at allbleedingstops.blogspot.com/2011/12/beyond-mandate-obamacare-matters.html. Reprinted with permission.