4 ms·

Is a health insurance a need or a want?

ninininino 2y ago
Strictly speaking, it's a want. The classic needs are food (and water), shelter, clothing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_needs I personally have gone uninsured for a few years at a time and there was no instant calamity, just an elevation of risk.
- ilinx 2y ago
  Wouldn’t that vary from person to person? I have several medications that I objectively need in order to remain healthy. The cost of those would be prohibitively expensive without a good job and/or health insurance.
  - ssl-3 2y ago
    I think they're trying to suggest that since they survived a period in their life without health insurance and did not experience calamity, that everyone else who needs to live must also be able to do so. And thus, by extension: Those who cannot live without health insurance needn't remain alive.
082349872349872 2y ago
Given that there are parts of the world where health insurance is not tied to employment, there may be more relevant axes that the one you're considering.
dredmorbius 2y ago
That's going rather beyond the spirit of OP here: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40773726 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40773726> But looking at this another way: some societies effectively transfer needs into wants by making them contingent on other factors. In the United States, healthcare coverage remains difficult to obtain even if you have significantly above-average wealth or income, unless you have access to an employer's coverage. This has improved somewhat under the ACA, but there's a significant variance on a state-by-state basis. More generally, though "if money wasn't such a limiting factor" and "Money is rarely a limiting factor as much as the desire for more money" both suggest that it's the pursuit of wealth itself that ZaoLahma and dr_dshiv meant. And there are certainly people, particularly amongst the ultra-wealthy, who seem motivated in this way, with wealth at which access to healthcare simply isn't an issue: they could hire their own doctors, pay out of pocket, or travel to where healthcare access isn't an insane torture device of its own.

Strictly speaking, it's a want. The classic needs are food (and water), shelter, clothing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_needs I personally have gone uninsured for a few years at a time and there was no instant calamity, just an elevation of risk.

ilinx 2y ago
Wouldn’t that vary from person to person? I have several medications that I objectively need in order to remain healthy. The cost of those would be prohibitively expensive without a good job and/or health insurance.
- ssl-3 2y ago
  I think they're trying to suggest that since they survived a period in their life without health insurance and did not experience calamity, that everyone else who needs to live must also be able to do so. And thus, by extension: Those who cannot live without health insurance needn't remain alive.

082349872349872 2y ago

Given that there are parts of the world where health insurance is not tied to employment, there may be more relevant axes that the one you're considering.

dredmorbius 2y ago

That's going rather beyond the spirit of OP here: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40773726 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40773726> But looking at this another way: some societies effectively transfer needs into wants by making them contingent on other factors. In the United States, healthcare coverage remains difficult to obtain even if you have significantly above-average wealth or income, unless you have access to an employer's coverage. This has improved somewhat under the ACA, but there's a significant variance on a state-by-state basis. More generally, though "if money wasn't such a limiting factor" and "Money is rarely a limiting factor as much as the desire for more money" both suggest that it's the pursuit of wealth itself that ZaoLahma and dr_dshiv meant. And there are certainly people, particularly amongst the ultra-wealthy, who seem motivated in this way, with wealth at which access to healthcare simply isn't an issue: they could hire their own doctors, pay out of pocket, or travel to where healthcare access isn't an insane torture device of its own.