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Originally Posted by BigBen
I will finish by saying that comparing normal insurance with health insurance is a straw-man argument. They are not the same, and are so fundamentally different at the basic statistical level that comparing them only confuses matters.
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In one respect you are correct comparing auto insurance to health insurance is an apples to oranges comparison. They are different. However, there are similarities. If your resources are limited you can make a choice between an apple and an orange for nurishment.
The probing question like you state, is how one goes about making that choice. How do people come to the conclusion to buy auto insurance and not buy health insurance.
"Auto insurance is mandated by law", but owning a car is not. I find the "by law" point to be somewhat superficial.
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Your final question is an Economic one, and one that frankly fascinates me; Why would you choose to spend your money on X instead of Y? You obviously see the benefit in health insurance, and cannot understand why someone would spend their money instead on cigarettes and alcohol, spinning rims and subwoofers... That is why people started studying human economic behaviour hundreds of years ago.
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My gut tells me that people do not value health insurance because if they don't get it from government or work they won't make a sacrifice to pay for it.
My gut also tells me that there is no healthcare crisis in this country. People are generally satified with the level of healthcare they receive in this country. And, they generally choose the level of health insurance they want if they want it at all. I know there are exceptions and personally I think we have an obligation as a sosciety to care for the old, children, and the mentally disabled.
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All I can tell you is that people get more personal good (utility) with their consumption set than they would by replacing some of their purchases with insurance. People are risk-adverse, that is true. They also try not to think about getting sick, old or dying.
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O.k. you might have to make me re-think my entire outlook. If people are so short-sighted that they don't do what is in their best interest over the long-run, perhaps we do need government to make their decisions and therefore require by law everyone to buy health insurance or provide it. I always thought that people wanted to be free to make their own choices, but if we conclude that most can't or don't understand the consequences of the choices they make, I guess we may have no choice but to make decisions for them. I would of course have to be one of those making the decisions for everyone else.
Free healthcare and manditory military service, does that sound fair?