Quote:
Originally Posted by HydrogenBond
... But if one looks at how insurance works, it uses a socialist approach. In other words, everyone is required to pool their money (roughly similar amounts for similar services) irregardless of one's use of the health care system.
In the social insurance situation, working hard to be healthy is not rewarded by the commune. One's hard efforts are put into the commune pool, where those who are slack with their health will recieved more than their efforts would dictate in a capitalist situation.
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Have you tried to obtain insurance lately? If you have anything wrong with you at all, you may not be able to get insurance at any price except through government supported "high-risk" insurance pools. Even if you can get it, you may be slapped with a long list of pre-existing condition exemptions that basically say if you have a chronic condition and it causes problems, the insurance company won't pay for it.
This situation has been getting much worse as companies force their workers to become contractors who do not get company health plans, and of course the growth in smaller employers who are exempt from requirements to provide health plans are both resulting in huge increases in the numbers of people who must obtain their own insurance and are at the mercy of these insurers who basically charge individuals twice what group health plans charge once you figure in all the exclusions mentioned above. As a result, record numbers of people are going without insurance, which means when they get sick, we *all* pay for it (just like shoplifting).
I find it hard to call this sort of behavior on the part of insurance companies, "socialist." Its the ultimate in capitalism.
You might want to study the situation in more detail: Just from a macroeconomic view, the main thing you're missing is that that "glass of orange juice" is only something you need every 5-10 years at most, and when you need it, it will cost you 2 years salary. That's the kind of expenditure that insurance is built for, capitalist or socialist.
Actuarially speaking,
Buffy
