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> The last point I'll make is that everyone gets older eventually. Higher premiums when you're younger are a form of pre-payment for the care that will absolute
by secabeen 9y ago
> The last point I'll make is that everyone gets older eventually. Higher premiums when you're younger are a form of pre-payment for the care that will absolutely be required when you age. Unless the government forces people to pay these premiums the most rational thing for any individual actor to do is cheat and skip paying premiums when young, then force the cost on others by buying in when you're old. It becomes a classic tragedy of the commons situation where only sick people buy policies, resulting in massive losses and sky-high premiums no one can afford to pay.
This is not true. People die young, some die quickly when older, with few health costs, others linger with huge costs. I can see an appropriate insurance product that protects against the risk of those varying outcomes.
- notahacker 9y ago> I can see an appropriate insurance product that protects against the risk of those varying outcomes. I can also see millions of people unable to access that insurance product because their health condition or expected health condition makes it impossible for them to obtain insurance at an affordable level. Of all the places for hardline libertarians to make a stand, the actuarial fairness of the insurance market, which literally is redistribution to the less fortunate which ultimately relies on coercion to function (good luck handling claims in a world where a legal system doesn't have teeth) seems the strangest place.