vovat | Inn-Sewer-Ants (Reply)

I'm not quite sure what to think of the proposed idea that every American should be required to have health insurance. This article says that advocates of this idea are trying to determine how "to make insurance affordable to the uninsured," but I have to question whether what industry officials (and members of Congress, for that matter) consider "affordable" is the same as that of the average American, especially if said average American isn't making much money and has no obvious medical conditions. I'm in favor of universal health care, but I think you should even be able to opt out if you'd like. I mean, if you were able to get medical care for free, but you thought you could get better care by paying for it, why should anyone stop you? The article mentions how Ted Kennedy is trying to keep the insurance companies involved, unlike Hillary Clinton did in the nineties. I guess that's a good idea in that we probably won't get rid of the insurance companies, but I still kind of think they SHOULD. I suppose I don't think that health is something that our country should be gambling on, and isn't that largely what insurance is? But since I'm also opposed to layoffs, I think the abolition of insurance companies should be accompanied by helping the people working in them to find new employment in fields where their skills would be of use. Numbers racketeering, perhaps? (Just kidding. I think.)