Peter Gosselin, in his book “High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families,” has some choice words on the concept of individual health insurance mandates aimed at the uninsured.
“Calling for an individual mandate as a means of attracting a broad coalition to health reform may be politically wise. But unless that call is accompanied by stiff regulations that ensure people are not entirely on their own in obtaining and keeping coverage, the result will be a cruel hoax. Having insurance to cope with a health crisis is one of those protections that no one except those in that all-too-brief period of healthy young adulthood—or those who are very, very rich—can afford to do without. Our risk of being struck by serious illness or injury must be pooled with those of others, and the costs must be spread across a large group of both sick and healthy. Insurers cannot be counted on to assemble those groups on their own; the financial incentives to take the healthy and avoid the sick or likely-to-be-sick are simply too great. If employers are no longer to play the role they have traditionally played of assembling these groups, there is only one alternative—government. Unwelcome as many American may find the idea of government playing a bigger role in health care—and as much as we may object on philosophical or other grounds—we must not fool ourselves into believing there is some simple alternative.”
Subscribe in RSS Reader