Fire insurance on your home seems to be not a burden. But, it is against the law to burn your house down, and, it is clearly written in the policy, home insurance will not pay for arson. House and medical insurance cannot be reconciled.
You can willfully destroy your health. Do you penalize the person who takes care of his health? Should your friend’s insurance premium, or taxes, be required to pay for a self-destructive choice?
Not all medical calamities are by choice, but in private or nationalized insurance, whom do you allow to decide which group each person should be placed?
Often, because of a choice, there is the irresolvable factor that makes the “right” to healthcare not a right.
You cannot make medical insurance equitable. Because of choice, each person being responsible for his normal healthcare is the only equitable, economical way to pay for routine medical expenses. How does only catastrophic insurance fit in here?
If we are responsible for ourselves, I do not have to force you to pay for my bad choice. Do you want to pay for my bad choice?
Richard B. Swint, M.D.
