I realized that my ending to my post on the difference between a broccoli and a health insurance mandate is wrong. I wrote, “So, it’s even,” meaning that my lack of knowledge of the law is equivalent to the lack of understanding of health care markets by the participants in the Supreme Court hearings (as reported by Jon Cohn).
But it is, in fact, not even. These are not equivalent. My ignorance of the law has almost no consequence. That participants in the hearing lack some basic understanding of health care is of enormous consequence. They’re involved in crucial decisions that will affect millions of people and billions of dollars.
This is an important asymmetry.
