“Ever hear of the law requiring people to have car insurance?” Olbermann rejoined smugly.
-Oct 15, 2009
That is only if you have a car. Health insurance is to be required if you are alive.
The car insurance the government requires you to buy is liability insurance, not personal injury, not collision, not comprehensive. You are not required to have insurance to cover damage to yourself or your car. In contrast, the health insurance the government is threatening to force us to buy concerns damage to yourself, not liability to others.
Some make the argument that if someone doesn't have health insurance he or she may become a burden on society and that is a liability to others. Somewhat akin to forcing you to buy uninsured motorists coverage in some states, basically forcing you to pay for the government's failing to enforce the law.
I have no problem with the government requiring people to carry health insurance to the extent that their income can reasonably support it. But people should have a choice to opt out of that by self-insuring, which would come with a stipulation that society will not pay for their medical care no matter what happens, i.e. you die in the proverbial gutter if it comes to that. That is not an easy one and may run counter to the Hippocratic Oath etc. But if your voluntarily-uninsured ass got saved on society's dime in an emergency, you ought to pay the cost of that back from your personal assets or income, however long it takes.
“Ever hear of the law requiring people to have car insurance?” Olbermann rejoined smugly.
-Oct 15, 2009
BINGO!