Maggie's Farm

Insurance is the transfer of risk from one party to another in exchange for some form of payment. In the case of "health" insurance - which is more properly termed "medical care" insurance - the insured makes a payment to an insurance company that assumes the risk of paying for medical care that the insured uses. Depending on the level of risk that the insurance company assumes, the payment made by the insured may be higher or lower. In the case of "catastrophic" medical insurance, the idea is that the insured wants to avoid a catastrophic loss, but is willing to pay for "routine" expenses such as annual physical exams as well as small expenses, e.g. doctor visit for an earache. Because catastrophic events are relatively uncommon, the insurance company can charge a low fee to assume this risk. When many people purchase such catastrophic policies, this can be envisioned as spreading the risk among many people - although this is not the definition of insurance.

What we have with comprehensive coverage plans, such as ObamaCare, that provide payment for routine items that occur in virtually the entire population, e.g annual exams, birth control, etc., is not insurance, but wealth transfer. Indeed, that's the real goal behind ObamaCare - to transfer wealth from the maker class to the taker class. This benefits the Democrats because the theft of assets from a few makers goes to pay for benefits for many takers - the Dems lose a few maker votes in exchange for many taker votes.

But, back to the original point: "Health" insurance doesn't assure health. It simply assures payment for diagnosis and treatment for medical problems. Be definition, you use the insurance after your health has deteriorated. Even if we assume that these "health care" dollars will go to preventive care, it's not clear that preventive care - as proposed by programs like ObamaCare - actually works. My opinion is that when you give freebies to a class of people (the taker class), who by definition have demonstrated a lack of personal responsibility, you cannot assume that they will do their part of the prevention program that would produce positive results. Rather, by having others pay for their "insurance", they are given even more incentive to expect that their health is someone else's responsibility. This is a segment of our population who have failed essentially because of their inability (or refusal) to delay gratification - they lack the self-discipline (and now the incentive) to do the things that would improve their health. Instead, whatever they want (smoke, drink, eat crap, do drugs, etc.), they do - and then they expect others to pay for their selfish behaviors.