Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril

In most states you're forced to buy a product if you own a car, car insurance. It's the same thing as health insurance and the ACA, you're forcing people to take responsibility for their potential liabilities. I'm all for giving anyone the freedom to never buy health insurance, just sign a lifetime irrevocable form that if you get sick and don't have the money, you get no care and no financial assistance from the government or any hospital which has to pass their costs on to me, an insured person. The way it is today, people's "rights" in this area (or better put, misfortunes and bad decisions) are trampling me and my wallet, and others disproportionately. The opposition to the ACA and individual mandate is one of the most puzzling things I've ever seen, considering the individual mandate was originally a conservative idea and making people take responsibility for their decisions, costs and liabilities is usually a tenet of conservatism. But when the opposition passes it, it's an affront to freedom.

 

Illogical.

Very logical. A part of me wishes I could agree with you. But as a physician I ethically cannot withold urgently needed care, or even less urgent but medically necessary care if absolutely no other alternative but me exists. And believe me, you absolutely, positively do NOT want to live in a society where this is not the case. In such a case, nobody can trust their doctor.

So how about an irrevocable bond that pays for care? This would be appealing for those who ride donorcycles without helmets and other such worthies. The problem here is that this would also hurt their families, who may not necessarily be as irresponsible or stupid as they, dooming them to perpetual life in the underclass. And even squeezed into oblivion, they could never come up with the money. My last 4 1/2 day hospitalization cost over $100k. Regular folks can't afford that.

Given all that we are left with either a mandate or Medicare for everyone. There is no other way. None, nada, zilch. And if anyone thinks that pre-existing conditions can be covered by private insurance without a mandate, I'd like to sell them a bridge - or an arithmetic book!

 

Well go buy tires off a hillbilly ! I know one is making money selling them!