Why Can't Health Insurance Be Like Car Insurance?

[MonstaThrilla]

What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

It works well for vehicles, and they already force us to pay taxes. What would the big difference be in forcing us to buy personal health insurance? It would take the big burden off the back of businesses to provide insurance for their employees, and of course get everyone covered. Obviously not everybody would be able to afford it, but the gov't already takes care of them more or less. I'm perplexed.

 

[LordMagnusKain]

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

It works well for vehicles, and they already force us to pay taxes. What would the big difference be in forcing us to buy personal health insurance? It would take the big burden off the back of businesses to provide insurance for their employees, and of course get everyone covered. Obviously not everybody would be able to afford it, but the gov't already takes care of them more or less. I'm perplexed.

We license people to use cars; we don't license people to live.

It'd be a functionally useful, I agree, but I?d never vote for such a thing.

 

[heartsurgeon]

What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

Do you realize what you are really saying..

i'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but this is why liberals are referred to as "elitists"

that is, you feel that your opinion about health care is such that it should be "forced" upon everyone for their own good.

you may be surprised to learn that many "uninsured" folks make plenty of money and could afford health insurance, but chose not to because they want to spend their money on other things....

well, why not "force" people to exercise, eat right, and live healthy lives...

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon

What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

Do you realize what you are really saying..

i'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but this is why liberals are referred to as "elitists"

that is, you feel that your opinion about health care is such that it should be "forced" upon everyone for their own good.

you may be surprised to learn that many "uninsured" folks make plenty of money and could afford health insurance, but chose not to because they want to spend their money on other things....

well, why not "force" people to exercise, eat right, and live healthy lives...

Like I said, people are FORCED to pay taxes. That means you paying income tax on the half a million you earn being a heart surgeon, or a kid paying sales tax on a pack of baseball cards at the local store. That has nothing to do with my opinion as an "elitist liberal". It has to do with society's recognition that a functioning society needs a government and the best way to fund that is through taxes.

If you drive a vehicle, you are FORCED to buy insurance for it. That too has nothing to do with the opinions of "elitist liberals". In fact, it makes perfect sense. If you crash your car, why should society or government have to pay for it?

So here's an idea: Force people to pay for healthcare out of their income just like they're currently forced to pay taxes out of their income. What the threshold will be, and what the minimum standard of coverage will be I don't know.

Instead of bashing me on my supposed elitist liberal agenda, I'd like to have a substantive discussion on the merits of such a system. I honestly don't know the best answer. I didn't think it was very "liberal" to suggest a privatized system either...

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

It works well for vehicles, and they already force us to pay taxes. What would the big difference be in forcing us to buy personal health insurance? It would take the big burden off the back of businesses to provide insurance for their employees, and of course get everyone covered. Obviously not everybody would be able to afford it, but the gov't already takes care of them more or less. I'm perplexed.

We license people to use cars; we don't license people to live.

It'd be a functionally useful, I agree, but I?d never vote for such a thing.

I wasn't talking about licensing drivers. I was talking about mandating private insurance for vehicles driven on public roads.

 

[Ldir]

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

It works well for vehicles, and they already force us to pay taxes. What would the big difference be in forcing us to buy personal health insurance? It would take the big burden off the back of businesses to provide insurance for their employees, and of course get everyone covered. Obviously not everybody would be able to afford it, but the gov't already takes care of them more or less. I'm perplexed.

It might work if a fixed group rate was offered to everyone. Right now the rate changes based on your health and age. You can pick a car you can afford insurance for. You can choose to not own a car if you cannot afford insurance. You cannot choose to not have a history of medical problems or to be old.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon

What exactly is the reason why the gov't just doesn't force all its citizens to buy personal, private health insurance?

Do you realize what you are really saying..

i'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but this is why liberals are referred to as "elitists"

that is, you feel that your opinion about health care is such that it should be "forced" upon everyone for their own good.

you may be surprised to learn that many "uninsured" folks make plenty of money and could afford health insurance, but chose not to because they want to spend their money on other things....

well, why not "force" people to exercise, eat right, and live healthy lives...

So the 30+ million Americans living below the poverty line are choosing not to be insured even though they can "afford" it?

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

...

 

[mastertech01]

They FORCE you to have liability insurance to protect others from your driving habits... they cant force you to have full coverage that would protect against personal loss. Only finance companies can force you to carry full coverage, and that is an agreed to term of the loan, not a legal requirement enforced by the government.

An equal insurance policy for health care would provide health insurance to someone you do bodily harm to, which wouldnt necessarily be a bad idea in todays world.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
Like I said, people are FORCED to pay taxes. That means you paying income tax on the half a million you earn being a heart surgeon, or a kid paying sales tax on a pack of baseball cards at the local store. That has nothing to do with my opinion as an "elitist liberal". It has to do with society's recognition that a functioning society needs a government and the best way to fund that is through taxes.

If you drive a vehicle, you are FORCED to buy insurance for it. That too has nothing to do with the opinions of "elitist liberals". In fact, it makes perfect sense. If you crash your car, why should society or government have to pay for it?

So here's an idea: Force people to pay for healthcare out of their income just like they're currently forced to pay taxes out of their income. What the threshold will be, and what the minimum standard of coverage will be I don't know.

Instead of bashing me on my supposed elitist liberal agenda, I'd like to have a substantive discussion on the merits of such a system. I honestly don't know the best answer. I didn't think it was very "liberal" to suggest a privatized system either...

You are FORCED to buy liability insurance. That is to protect others from your negligence.

Health insurance is completely different.

I'm not really a big fan of social medicine but I think it's possible if we eliminated the mountains of waste in our government.

 

[jjones]

Because health insurance isn't necessary.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Because health insurance isn't necessary.

I think many of you are missing MonstaThrilla's point. Of course health insurance isn't necessary but healthcare is necessary. But due to the vagaries of the American sociopolitical system, the means of financing healthcare varies based on your age, income, employment status, and state of residence.

IMHO, MT apparently approves of the privatized system of healthcare insurance. From his perspective everyone that can afford to buy private insurance should be compelled to do so. Since some form of healthcare is a necessity (unlike the privilege of driving a car) the government can provide basic coverage for those that cannot afford to buy their own. Or in the case of the wasteful Bush administration, the government can subsidize an overpriced private insurance plan.

In essence, the government mandates some basic level of care to be offered by providers (insurers). People are free to buy the basic plan or platinum/diamond level plans or anything in-between. Obviously, Medicare and Medicaid would essentially be dismantled; at the very least they would undergo monumental reform since both would be means tested to a higher degree. Many (if not most) companies would stop offering health insurance as a benefit.

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: jjones
Because health insurance isn't necessary.

The same argument can be made for car insurance. You can be a perfectly safe and responsible driver, but something can and usually will happen. Likewise, you can live a perfectly safe and healthy life, but something can and usually will happen. I would like to see the minimum healthcare package based on two tenets:

1) Preventive care
2) Accident/Emergency coverage

I'm no healthcare professional, but this stuff seems to make sense. Furthermore, government already mandates one form of preventive healthcare, immunizations in school children. It seems to make sense financially, not just in the "elitist liberal" sense. Nipping something in the bud is many orders of magnitude cheaper than treating it as a fullblown disease.

And second, like car insurance, society shouldn't have to foot the bill when accidents happen. They are inevitable, and to think "It can never happen to me so I don't need insurance" is naive thinking.

Just IMO...