Posted on 02/09/2011 7:49:11 AM PST by SeekAndFind
So that the first time you get sick they cancel you?
The doctor is nonsensical.
The good doctor lost me at that point.
Your car insurance doesn’t pay for gas and oil changes, why should your health insurance pay for routine doctor visits?
Obamacare killed the catastrophic plan.
Car Insurance is limited. Loss of car plus medical claims for accident. very few have huge claims. Major Medical claims are very different. For auto insurance to be like Obamacare you would have to provide for all fuel and repair costs including oil changes. All autos could be restored to like new condition on demand and for free. You could buy a rusted out shell of a 69 gto and take it to the car hospital for free restoration to like new condition. Wonder how high those rates would be.
Because the things that determine your auto premiums are for the most part fully public activities. You are out there driving around where you can get in wrecks and get citations. You personal behavior that affects your health is mostly private behavior. The level of surveillance necessary to detect unhealthy lifestyles would be the most intrusive imaginable.
Never mind that the usual norms of “acceptable” healthy behavior are largely crap. Remember.. “Don’t eat butter, eat margarine”.... 30 years later.....”Hey wait, don’t eat margarine eat butter!”
So, Doc, keep your filthy medical imperialism to yourself.
Auto insurance is another scam. of course you have to have it, liability insurance is required by law, comprehensive auto insurance is required by your lender, if you have one.
It’s a good idea for me to protect my investment in my brand new car even though it’s paid for. Here’s the rub, have one claim that’s not even your fault and watch your premiums zoom skyward. Your 30 years of accident free driving means absolutely nothing then.
The cold, hard facts are that some ethnotypes are doomed to short lives because neither their livers nor their cardiovascular systems are designed to allow for long life.
Some, on the other hand, will live longer because of their genes IRRESPECTIVE of what they eat, drink or do.
These things are not presently the fault or responsibility of "the health care system".
I doubt it is politically feasible to create a health care system that evaluates relative risk based on genes.
Just in case you are rear-ended.
Sure. But, one doesn’t need car insurance, if say you use your car on only on your private property.
Beyond that, he makes good points. Why shouldn’t those who voluntarily increase the risk to the insurance company pay more for health insurance? You pay more in car insurance if you get speeding tickets all the time, why not pay more in health insurance if you smoke? The current system does detach actions from accountability.
Even if it were legal for the federal government to order us to buy health insurance, I would think the secondary justification would be control. The doctor points out the unfairness of a person who tries to maintain good health having to pay the same as someone who does not. If you had to buy health insurance, then the federal government would have a much easier time controlling your lifestyle.
While the good doctor flubs up by comparing health insurance to car insurance, he does make a good point about people whp try to maintain a healthy lifestyle having to pay the same as people who don't. Whether we like it or not, lifestyle does play an important part in one's overall health, and there should be some financial incentives offered in the private health insurance market for people to engage in healthy behaviors, just as there are good driver discounts for car insurance.
Sometimes I wonder if the only health insurance option available was the high deductible variety, that many of the people who are currently depenedent on monthly maintenance drugs would be able to find cheaper alternatives?
Why?
Because you can choose to not drive.
Because your employer doesn’t get to deduct your car insurance from your taxes.
Because you can self-insure your health.
Because you not having health insurance is your problem.
Because you getting sick doesn’t kill other people.
It’s the first & last one which are most important: you must be able to cover the direct costs you impose on others by choosing to do something stupid. Ex: you drive, you crash, you break someone else’s legs, you’d better be able to pay. This vs ex: you gorge yourself on sugars too long, you get diabetes, whether you can afford insulin is your problem.
First of all, very few people have health insurance. What they do have is a product of the Kennedy HMO act of 1974, which exempted HMO/PPO providers from complying with insurance product laws. So let’s get that out of the way right now! What people have is a contract with a company that is paid to administrate the “plan”, which is not insurance.
Breathing apparently.
Not every state requires you to have car insurance. Many will let you post a bond instead of buying insurance. No state (that I am aware of) requires you to have insurance or a bond just to own a car. You only need insurance if you drive on public roadways. Obama requires you to have health insurance if you merely breathe public air.
Wait, health insurance would get *cheaper* with age? Right, because old people don't need much medical care and hospitals are filled with 16-year-olds.
If my health insurance was like my car insurance, the premiums would go down the older I got.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.