fjorleaf, please know that I am always delighted to have a reasoned discussion. even friends dont have to always agree on everything :)
I think you may misunderstand me. I think insurance should be required, AND I think that if you dont get it from an employer/ job, you should be able to get it from the government same as you get fire and police coverage.
the reason I think it should be required is severalfold: 1. that for insurance to function it MUST include a large pool to normalize risk. if you skew the population for an insurance gorup to only be those who dont have jobs, etc you will be skewing it heavily to those who cant work. I think you'd agree that most people who dont have insurance would be higher risk? (self employed artists etc being the minority there?) by lumping the state employees (lower risk group) with the unemployable (higher risk group) you average the risk overall. the only way for an insurance pool to work is to average the risk. if you fill the pool with high risk folks? it will not be sustainable.
2. herd immunity is an important factor in public health. if the majority of a population is not at risk for a disease, the rest are protected as well as the disease cannot spread. obviously this doesnt work for non contagious things, but it worked for polio...
3. there is too much haves vs have nots in our society (yes, I'm a bit pink tinged on the corners). basic health care is too important to leave to the whims of employers or life circumstances. it should not be a priviledge, it should be a basic human right. not just because it encourages a healthier population (thereby decreasing the chances of ME getting sick), not just because it makes financial sense (see item #1) but because its the right, moral and human thing to do.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 02:39 am (UTC)I think you may misunderstand me. I think insurance should be required, AND I think that if you dont get it from an employer/ job, you should be able to get it from the government same as you get fire and police coverage.
the reason I think it should be required is severalfold:
1. that for insurance to function it MUST include a large pool to normalize risk. if you skew the population for an insurance gorup to only be those who dont have jobs, etc you will be skewing it heavily to those who cant work. I think you'd agree that most people who dont have insurance would be higher risk? (self employed artists etc being the minority there?) by lumping the state employees (lower risk group) with the unemployable (higher risk group) you average the risk overall. the only way for an insurance pool to work is to average the risk. if you fill the pool with high risk folks? it will not be sustainable.
2. herd immunity is an important factor in public health. if the majority of a population is not at risk for a disease, the rest are protected as well as the disease cannot spread. obviously this doesnt work for non contagious things, but it worked for polio...
3. there is too much haves vs have nots in our society (yes, I'm a bit pink tinged on the corners). basic health care is too important to leave to the whims of employers or life circumstances. it should not be a priviledge, it should be a basic human right. not just because it encourages a healthier population (thereby decreasing the chances of ME getting sick), not just because it makes financial sense (see item #1) but because its the right, moral and human thing to do.
does that help explain my position a bit better?