Go ahead… roll the dice
Insurance is a bet you place against yourself. I bet you I’ll get sick, you say when you buy health insurance. The insurance company says…. hmmm for $x I’ll take that bet.
And of course, common sense, dictates that the more likely you are to get sick the higher $x gets.
The ONLY way insurance works is if periods of health subsidize times when you are sick. This happens in two ways. In large groups, most are healthy, their lack of expenses covers the sick’s expenses. And individually, over long times you have more periods of good health than bad, and those good times pay for the bad.
So the insurance deal is this…. hang with a good group, get a better rate. AND/OR bet with us for a long time and we will insure you.
That is why this statement from a 58 year old woman, included I suppose to make us feel bad and sympathetic towards massive government intervention in health care, makes absolutely no sense:
Ramer said. "I’m not asking for a handout. I’m just asking for something I can afford, and won’t have all these restrictions that they’ll cover this and won’t cover that." Ramer says she can afford to pay about $100 to $150 a month.’
Actually, she is asking for a handout. And she didn’t play the game. She should have been betting against herself for years so that the insurance equation had enough money on her to pay her bills and still be profitable.
But she didn’t. And is she serious? $100 a month for health care? Satellite TV costs more than that. And I betcha that if I went in to audit her expenses, I’d find plenty of things I’d be willing for her to stop buying before I buy her health care. Dinners out. Cable TV. A nice car when a beater would do. Cigarettes? Booze? Lottery tickets?
What she really is saying is “I want a handout but I’m deluding myself that it isn’t a handout so I don’t feel bad”.
Well, my wallet feels pretty bad right now. I’m happy to help those who REALLY NEED IT, but not those not willing to make that assistance the absolute last resort.
I’m in a sick period right now. I’ve been expensive, but have not yet cost what I’ve put into the system over the last 25 years of working. I’ve EARNED my payoff, and I’m not to thrilled about giving money to those who want to join the party but didn’t help setup the chairs.