on Bruce's April 2 Post

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1. Yes I am serious about how silly I think it is.
2. I think we all are to some degree going to have a problem being objective.
3. The PCIP issue is one of the main reasons that I support NHI and one of the main justifications for requiring that everybody participate. (Preferably by taxation by just expanding Medicare. Of course we would need a lot more taxation.)
Obviously the PCIP individual wants health care and my sympathy for them is dependent on how they got there. If they had insurance and lost it because of a life change, then I’m sympathetic. But if they just didn’t want it and didn’t buy it until they got the illness, then it seems unrealistic to me to tell an insurance company (whose business it is to manage risk) that they should have to pay someone’s bills after the fact.
Consider an analogous case of someone who gets a fatal illness and has only 2 months to live. Should an insurance company be required to sell them life insurance?
4. Why does this move me to support NHI? Well, medical technology being what it is, the possibility of predicting what expensive illnesses you will have is growing rapidly and undermining the whole concept of “risk management” insurance. In a few years you will be able to check the dna markers and know what diseases you are likely to get and with what probability. In deference to your rights of privacy the govt will not let anyone require you to tell them what those things are. Now when you set down with the insurance agent you have a lot more information than he does. The ins. Com. will have to assume the worst and charge accordingly. That is not an arrangement that will produce good contracts.
5. I agree that the Rs are not looking very good either, but Ryan’s budget does show the Rs accepting heat (for proposed reduction of services) to further their goal of restraining the growth of government and dealing with the fiscal situation. The Ds on the other hand offer everything to everybody and are not willing to take the heat (increased taxation) to further their goal of increasing government services.
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