NOPE, not buying this guys expert advice. It doesn’t start with the government trying to provide health care. IT STARTS WITH PEOPLE. People need to be able to form groups to insure themselves, and have a group of people who don’t use tobacco, curbed alcohol consumption, monogamous, committed people who don’t bring STD’s to their spouse!! People who don’t eat til they look like Hippos And folks who when they weigh 300lbs don’t get the priviledge of an electric golf cart to go up and down the aisles of Walmart to fill their baskets with marshmallows. People need to wash their private parts after sex, wash their hands after going to the bathroom, brush their teeth, and if they are addicted to Valium, make them go see their priest, rabbi or pastor and find out what internal issues are causing this. NO more payments for sexual reorientation, no more subsidies for Viagara, and no more face lifts, tummy tucks or butt perks. People should be able to form groups that allow their category who would be LESS likely to go to the hospital, get a cheaper premium. What has gotten out of hand, is the demands of people who have a hang over from drinking, and want a doctors signature on Monday that they are sick and need coverage for being absent. Listen to me... I’m telling you the truth.
I agree. :)
This is a really good example of why it’s so difficult to control medical costs: many things that are “obviously” true about the system, aren’t.
While your proposal seems perfectly logical, when thinking about this you have to keep in mind the “paradox of aging” as regards insurance: the healthier your lifestyle, the longer you live, and the higher your lifetime medical costs.
For example, smokers on the average die early enough to have lower lifetime costs than the obese, and the obese die early enough to have lower costs than their leaner counterparts.
This may seem to defy common sense, but the reason is straightforward: as we age we are increasing likely to have untreatable conditions such as dementia and/or *combinations* of chronic diseases which are difficult and expensive to control.
So the next time you are standing in the checkout line next to a obese smoker, thank them for their altruistic behavior - they are saving the rest of us money, long term!