When we socialize medicine so that the taxpayer picks up the tab if the insurer won't pay, the public has a claim on regulating risky behavior. We have thus ceded the freedom to do as we please becuause it is no longer possible to account for risk.
GREAT point.
Ever notice how many Freepers are not interested in fighting this creeping socialism?
I agree with that premise but it goes deeper. Not only would the insurance company have to be able to discriminate in their pricing but the insurance would have to be sufficient to keep Joe off of the public dole.
Example1
Joe Cyclist is going to tell Cycle Insurance he is going to wear his helmet. Cycle Insurance has no way of knowing Joe is violating his agreement until he has a wreck and the officer documents Joe didn't have his helmet on.
Now Cycle Insurance refuses to pay, since Joe was outside of his agreement with them. Joe has massive head injuries and guess who pays. You and me, because Joe is now on the public dole.
Example II-- Joe Cyclist was wearing his helmet but still has massive injuries. Cycle Insurance pays, but Joe ends up on the public dole anyway because the insurance wasn't sufficient. Once again, I'm paying for Joe.
Example III -- Insurance can now discriminate and minimum requirements for Insurance are sufficient so that no matter what Medical condition Joe ends up in as a result of his cycling, Joe will never be on the public dole.
Only problem is Joe can't afford Cycle Insurance. Neither can anyone else. For that matter, few people can now afford cars because we've applied the same principle to car insurance. The economy is reduced to a fraction of what it was and everyone loses.
System 1 - A system with Laws designed to enforce safety habits, minimal insurance requirements and a public safety net or
System 2 - A system with no safety laws, but minimum Insurance requirements sufficient to protect society from Joe's stupidity.
Or would you prefer...
System 3 - No safety laws, no insurance requirements, no public safety net, hospitals aren't required to treat anyone who can't pay. Joe can't get medical care, because of no insurance and dies. Joe's wife commits suicide because of the pressure of raising three kids by herself.
Joe's three kids end up on the street because there are no orphanages any more since we did away with the public safety net. The three kids take to crime causing property insurance to go up as well as the prison population and associated law enforcement and once again I'm paying for Joe's stupidity.
Dollars to donuts, the insurance companies were there first, demanding the state pass laws saying everyone must buy their products. That the government has, like a organized crime family, taken over the insurance industry, well...that's what happpes when you make a deal with the devil.