All opinions are always 100% honest and my own. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I also participate in: CJ Affiliate; eBay Partner Network; Rakuten Affiliate Network; ShareASale; Walmart Affiliate Program; independent affiliate networks.
Since Obamacare was first a gleam in the eye of every progressive trying to buy votes, I've been trying to get people to understand math…and insurance.
- Insurance is a way to pool risk.
- Risk assessment is based on actuarial tables that come from historic averages.
- Providing health care for everyone (regardless of preexisting conditions, lifestyle, etc.) is going to cause healthcare costs to “necessarily skyrocket”—for those who actually pay for healthcare—and it's not insurance.
If you think Obamacare is a good idea, you shoudl be willing to give me an insurance policy for the car I wrecked five years ago and for the house that burned down when my husband was a kid.
I'll be waiting for your contact info in the comments.
We struggle in this country that—on the right and on the left—that if you think your cause is big enough that you're exempt from doing math.
You're not excempt from math if you're a democrat; you're not exempt from math if you're a republican; you're not exempt from math if you're a liberal; and you're not exempt from math if you're a conservative. You still have to do math.
And anyone who can do math can tell—anybody that knows the basic business premises of something like a social security system, the basic things that are laid out there, or something like the tenets of Obamacare, the processes that are being put in place there—it's fairly easy to surmise with critical thought what's going to occur.
You just have to be intellectually honest enough to do critical thought and look at it, regardless of your political leanings. And you have to pull your head far enough out of your politics to actually have an original thought.
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
When you break it down, it’s pretty simple. Terrible for our country, good for those who want to destroy it. 🙁
Most common sense thing I’ve heard all month on the topic. None of our “leaders” (except Lee and Cruz and ?) have any moral backbone. Maybe they’re the only ones with any morality at all.
He’s right. It’s communist. What will become of us as we slip toward a European model? The super power will be China. Without the US to protect freedom…
Power grab. I want insurance, too, but not at this cost.
And the thing is, if I’m using more than what I put into insurance, someone else pays. And if I don’t use what I’m putting in, it’s a waste. Right?
I understand where you’re coming from when you say the cost of health will skyrocket but is it fair to determine insurance based on pre-existing conditions? It’s fair to the insurance company but unfair from the social point of view, is it not?
Fehmeen, thanks for your thoughtful comment.
Honestly, I don’t understand how “fair” fits into the scenario. How can you determine health insurance any other way than based on the health of the members and actuarial tables indicating statistical cases for how much their overall care will cost? It’s the very definition of insurance.
Insurance is risk pooling and if you include those with known conditions it’s not risk. It’s redistribution. Period.
It is all about math. People choose to get together to pool risk. If you don’t like the risk pool or think the risk is not worth the cost, you don’t take it.
I wouldn’t pool with a bunch of 90 year olds for life insurance. I wouldn’t pool with a bunch of convicted drunk drivers for car insurance. I wouldn’t pool with a bunch of arsonists for homeowners insurance. And I wouldn’t pool with a bunch of smokers, drug addicts, or people with serious pre-existing conditions for health insurance.
Would you be willing to get together with four people who just wrecked their cars to share car repair costs? If you would, in the name of “fairness” or something, I have no objection. Meaning that if you want to personally subsidize a bunch of people who need car repairs, I’m fine with that! But it’s NOT insurance, it’s charity.
So, if you want to get a whole bunch of people together who are sick to pool costs, that might be cool. And you might get a rash of enrollees. But could they afford the premium you’d charge?
So, back to your question, what is “unfair” about creating pools of people to share risk based on things that actually have to do with the risks involved?