Ryan’s point was that Obamacare’s guaranteed-issue requirement means that exchange plans can only be viable if they attract enough healthy people to cover the costs of the currently or chronically ill. Both groups must be offered the same rates.
Surely you can see how that is different from (say) fire or auto insurance, where no one would expect to pay the same to insure two houses, only one of which is actually burning at the moment.
Yes. But the mandate was always pretty toothless and has now been completely defanged.
Regardless, the idea that under ACA “the healthy pay for the sick” as expressed by Ryan was certainly not an oblivious truism about the nature of insurance as it is being portrayed.
Surely you can see how that is different from (say) fire or auto insurance, where no one would expect to pay the same to insure two houses, only one of which is actually burning at the moment.