Comment Re:Thank goodness (Score 1) 999
Of course we are talking about people without insurance already and the law specifically puts congress and it's staffers into that category so including them is more then appropriate.
OK, so we're moving them into an entirely different category of worker by grand fiat. I suppose the fact that hey get paid better than the average McDonald's worker is also "special treatment" and not just part of their normal compensation package for their skill sets. Somebody should pass a law cutting them to minimum wage so they really feel the pinch. Forget paying market wages for marketable skills, we have a point to make. In fact, let's test our welfare system by cutting their pay to $0. Surely that's not a stupid idea that will backfire as soon as it hits market realities.
You have people who can't afford it, or do not incur medical costs and do not purchase insurance, and you have some who might be mooching off the rest of us by making us bear their medical cost.
If you're walking around without insurance secure in the knowledge that you'll be treated in case of catastrophe, you're basically stealing catastrophic coverage from the rest of us. We pay more so you can do that. The fact that you never use it is a side issue. Risk has a price, and insulation from risk has a value. If everybody behaves that way, the system collapses.
Well, here is a constructive alternative, instead of forcing everyone to get insurance, how about forcing people who don't pay their medical bills to get insurance.
How, exactly, would that work mathematically? What you're describing is known as adverse selection. Again, if everybody behaves this way, the system collapses.
Insurance is pretty simple. Most people pay in more than they ever take out so that a small subset of people can take out way more than they put in. The only way it works is if the ratio of payers to redeemers is high enough. You can't create a system where everybody opts out of being a payer and then jumps into being a redeemer when they need it, even if you penalize them some small amount.