[ConservativeMind]

That doesn't stop it from being an optional benefit (perk).

You can work extra to buy it if necessary or use the government's insurance as a fall-back.

A car is optional as well, but we don't see it that way. Still, we don't require businesses provide transportation for everyone for "free".

Perhaps if we could see that the vast majority of our health was in our own hands, people such as yourself could feel more comfortable with the insurance situation.

Catastrophic insurance is not that expensive and would prevent "losing everything".

Insurance, I maintain, is purely a perk.

[durasell]

Insurance is going to be THE issue in the next decade. Come October, when the new bankruptcy laws go into effect a lot of people are going to start losing their homes since a disproportionate amount of personal bankruptcies are health related. A lot of folks are going to be screaming like stuck pigs.

[Aliska]

Insurance, I maintain, is purely a perk.

Should only the "protected classes" have access to adequate insurance through their employer?