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Why Can't My Health Insurance Be Like My Car Insurance?
American Thinker ^ | 02/09/2011 | Jon George, MD

Posted on 02/09/2011 7:49:11 AM PST by SeekAndFind

I have been driving a car since I was 16 years old, which was also when I got my auto insurance under my parents' plan. It was expensive when I first started out, but as I demonstrated good driving behavior -- avoiding accidents and speeding tickets, I was encouraged by cumulative discounts including safe driver, good student, and multiple car deductions.

But when it came to my health insurance, I first started making payments on it with my first job after college. Of course, I took the cheapest plan with the fewest bells and whistles and the highest deductibles, but it provided cost containment in the setting of an emergency. But despite practicing a healthy lifestyle -- watching my diet, exercising, avoiding substance abuse, and maintaining regular physical check ups with my primary care physician, I noticed that I paid the same health insurance premiums as my colleague who consumed large amounts of junk food with a sedentary lifestyle, feeding addictions to cigarettes and alcohol, and non-compliance with his prescribed medications.

So what is the real reason for mounting health care costs in this country? Is it poor management by physicians or a poor health care system? Why are there no incentives to encourage healthy practices and fines to discourage bad behavior? Why do healthy responsible patients pay inflated premiums to cover the consequences of unhealthy lifestyles of their neighbors?

What if my health insurance were like my car insurance? To begin with, I would be required to have health insurance just as any driver is mandated to have auto insurance to drive an automobile. Sure, it's expensive at the age of 16 due to heightened risk of accidents and careless behavior but with maturity comes gradual decline in premiums with demonstration of safe driving and responsibility. In addition, various incentive programs exist for a good driving record and scholastic performance which lower the premiums significantly. Similarly, health insurance would be expensive at the onset, but with healthy lifestyle practices, responsible behavior, and physician endorsement of compliance would come discounts in health insurance premiums.

If health insurance were like car insurance, I would be responsible for obtaining it as opposed to having my employer supply it for me. After all, it's my body and my health-why do I expect someone else to be responsible for it?

If health insurance were like car insurance, I would be able to shop around for the cheapest insurance with competitive rates from multiple vendors to find a plan best suited for my lifestyle. If health insurance were like car insurance, I would not be denied insurance unless I demonstrated repeatedly offensive and ill-advised behavior.

On the other hand, what if my car insurance were like my health insurance? My employer would be required to obtain my car insurance, which means I couldn't drive if I didn't have a job. Everyone would pay the same for auto insurance regardless of driving history. The system would breed lack of accountability since there would be no incentives for good driving behavior and no repercussions for accidents or speeding. Sure it would be economical for the irresponsible driver, but only at an exorbitant cost to the safe driver and society as a whole.

There is an urgent need for major overhaul of the health care system in the United States. While the debated health care reform bill addresses some issues that warrant change, it continues to penalize the delivery of care by cutting reimbursements without providing incentives for healthy lifestyles and quality of care.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: carinsurance; healthcare; healthinsurance
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1 posted on 02/09/2011 7:49:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

So that the first time you get sick they cancel you?


2 posted on 02/09/2011 7:51:13 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: SeekAndFind
To begin with, I would be required to have health insurance just as any driver is mandated to have auto insurance to drive an automobile

owning and driving a car is justification for a car insurance requirement.

and justification for a health insurance requirement is ...????
3 posted on 02/09/2011 7:52:46 AM PST by stylin19a
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To: SeekAndFind

The doctor is nonsensical.


4 posted on 02/09/2011 7:53:13 AM PST by MortMan (What disease did cured ham used to have?)
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To: SeekAndFind
What if my health insurance were like my car insurance? To begin with, I would be required to have health insurance just as any driver is mandated to have auto insurance to drive an automobile.

The good doctor lost me at that point.

5 posted on 02/09/2011 7:55:36 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


6 posted on 02/09/2011 7:55:56 AM PST by Dan Nunn (Support the NRA!)
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To: DannyTN

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.


7 posted on 02/09/2011 7:57:24 AM PST by screaminsunshine (34 States)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


8 posted on 02/09/2011 7:57:36 AM PST by Seruzawa (If you agree with the French raise your hand - If you are French raise both hands.)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


9 posted on 02/09/2011 7:58:21 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Of course Obama loves his country. The thing is, Sarah loves mine.)
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To: SeekAndFind
The author attributes entirely too much to lifestyle and not nearly enough to genetics.

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.

10 posted on 02/09/2011 8:00:52 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: SeekAndFind
How about an AIDS rider.

Just in case you are rear-ended.

11 posted on 02/09/2011 8:01:24 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (I am proclaiming 2011 as the year of ME!)
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To: Seruzawa

Sure. But, one doesn’t need car insurance, if say you use your car on only on your private property.


12 posted on 02/09/2011 8:02:23 AM PST by Palter (If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it. ~ Mark Twain)
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To: pnh102

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.


13 posted on 02/09/2011 8:02:34 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: stylin19a
and justification for a health insurance requirement is ...????

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?

14 posted on 02/09/2011 8:03:18 AM PST by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


15 posted on 02/09/2011 8:03:52 AM PST by ctdonath2 (Great children's books - http://www.UsborneBooksGA.com)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


16 posted on 02/09/2011 8:03:56 AM PST by blackdog
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To: stylin19a
and justification for a health insurance requirement is ...????

Breathing apparently.

17 posted on 02/09/2011 8:04:19 AM PST by K-Stater
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


18 posted on 02/09/2011 8:06:21 AM PST by csmusaret (Q: How do they say incompetent failure in Kenya? A: Barack Obama)
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To: SeekAndFind
Similarly, health insurance would be expensive at the onset, but with healthy lifestyle practices, responsible behavior, and physician endorsement of compliance would come discounts in health insurance premiums.

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.

19 posted on 02/09/2011 8:06:49 AM PST by xjcsa (Ridiculing the ridiculous since the day I was born.)
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To: SeekAndFind

If my health insurance was like my car insurance, the premiums would go down the older I got.


20 posted on 02/09/2011 8:07:38 AM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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