I’m a fan of your work on civil liberties and also onerous regulations (I’ve linked to you many times), but when you wander into general political or economic issues, you act careless–you might as well be writing RNC press releases.

I’m referring, of course, to the idea of giving people the option of going with a government-managed insurance plan if they feel the private insurance market has failed them.

Of course, the notion of competition is terribly frightening to the big players in the market, and the words “government-managed” are just as terrifying to many people. So this is what passes as “compromise” between those who demand reform and those who demand no reform.

Sausage? Anyone?

People can buy catastrophic medical insurance if they want.

People can pay their own way.

If you can’t afford it yourself and you chose not to have insurance, you are screwed and can’t get healthcare BUT that IS your choice.

NO ONE has a right to force anyone else to labor for their benefit which is what shared costs in healthcare are all about.

Democrats and Republicans want to stop this by requiring insurance companies to accept paying customers despite pre-existing conditions. The companies reply, “OK, but this will put us out of business because people will free ride. People will wait to get sick, then they will come sign up for insurance. We will get all of the costs, but none of the premiums.”

The insurance companies — evil though they may be — do have a point here.

That’s where the mandate comes from.

Come get some, fool.

LOL Big man on the blog. I’ll bet you bravely rounded down each box on your 1040EZ last year as a form of protest. Loser.

“Hayek was in favor of a generous welfare state.”

Nice handwave. Now: cite, please. Show your work.

“Nor is there any reason why the state should not assist the individuals in providing for those common hazards of life against which, because of their uncertainty, few individuals can make adequate provision. Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance – where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks – the case for the state’s helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong… Wherever communal action can mitigate disasters against which the individual can neither attempt to guard himself nor make the provision for the consequences, such communal action should undoubtedly be taken,” – Friedrich Hayek, The Road To Serfdom (Chapter 9).

Funny only because you didn’t mean it to be.

No, there are functioning, efficient systems where all care is delivered by private companies, with a good deal of competition over and above a mandatory (but very affordable) basic package (which the companies can’t refuse you, and a funds pool eliminates the issue of adverse selection!)

That’d be the Netherlands. Go look at how /that/ works. It is entirely possible to sensibly deliver health care via insurance companies.

your blog, your rules. since one of them seems to be “must agree with/kiss blogowners ass”, i reckon it’s time to give you up as a lost cause, even if you are the only consistent and reliable ‘cop outrage’ blog out there.

a pity, but GFY.

#52
What happens when something happens all of a sudden that isn’t considered catastrophic and is not covered by the policy?

What happens when someone can’t afford even a catastrophic insurance plan or to pay out of pocket for chronic medication?

And what happens when you’re walking down a dark alley at night and get waylaid by 42 ninjas and there’s nothing you can do about it? What then, huh? What then?

Or for short: our health insurance should be like every other insurance … for catastrophic stuff (cancer, bad accident, etc) only. Do we pay for gas in our car or oil changes with our Car Insurance? Why should health care be any different?

What happens when something happens all of a sudden that isn’t considered catastrophic and is not covered by the policy?

What happens when someone can’t afford even a catastrophic insurance plan or to pay out of pocket for chronic medication?

The end goal is an entirely separate discussion.