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0 pointsOverTheTetons2mo ago0 comments

Is the obvious retort to this:

I don't think we should play arbiter for who has and hasn't lived a healthy enough life to still believe they should get healthcare?

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Analemma_2mo ago

Yeah, I think what Workaccount2 is not realizing is that there's no bottom to "you have higher risk factors, why should I pay for you?", and so once you start down that way you may not like where it ends up. Some hobbies have higher injury rates, why should I pay for your health care if you choose to play those? Some parts of the country have lower life expectancies, why should I pay for your health care if you choose to live there?

Workaccount22mo ago

The actual realization, which usually comes years after the realization that there is no bottom, is that there is no top either.

The battle along the spectrum of privatizing gains (lower healthcare premiums for a healthy lifestyle - high premiums for unhealthy lifestyle) vs socializing losses (paying $20/mo to get $1200/mo of care - paying $1200/mo for $0/mo of care) is constant and boundless in either direction.

ben_w2mo ago

But there is a bound in both directions?

On end, it's "national insurance", functionally equivalent to fully-tax-funded healthcare like the NHS or the German system with several providers competing but regulated to near identical results, but moreso as the UK and Germany also has private care; on the other, it's the absence of insurance.

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