Dear Liberal...

[MillCreek]

I've never had any love for insurance companies, especially so called "health insurance."

But before ACA they couldn't force you to buy their "product" at the point of a gun.   

Except of course for those states who require mandatory auto insurance.

[Balog]

Except of course for those states who require mandatory auto insurance.

Liability insurance is all that I know that is required. Seems to be a bit of a difference between "be covered for damage you may do to someone else" and "be covered for any health issues you may have."

[Angel Eyes]

Except of course for those states who require mandatory auto insurance.

Not quite the same thing, since you can opt to not have a motor vehicle.

Under Obamacare, the only way to get out of the insurance requirement is to be:

(a) one of the exempted public officials, or
(b) dead

[Triphammer]

With motor vehicle insurance in some states, Az being one, you can self insure with a bond of sufficient size to cover your minumum responsabillity.  You can't opt out of O-care just because you can afford to pay your doctor.

[MillCreek]

Liability insurance is all that I know that is required. Seems to be a bit of a difference between "be covered for damage you may do to someone else" and "be covered for any health issues you may have."

Interesting fun fact: in those states who have mandatory auto liability insurance, the groups who donated the most money and spent on the most on lobbyists in favor of such laws were usually the plaintiff personal injury attorneys.  They knew that a requirement to have insurance would increase their chances of being paid for filing claims.

[Balog]

I'm not sure that really addresses the issue.

That said, no one who has any knowledge of the healthcare system here thinks it has anything to do with the free market.

[MillCreek]

I'm not sure that really addresses the issue.

That said, no one who has any knowledge of the healthcare system here thinks it has anything to do with the free market.

It peripherally addresses a belief of mine on these matters: follow the money.  I am interested to see if the supporters of a given political initiative stand to profit from it, and could that account for that support.  It is the basis for my opinion that the ACA is a corporate welfare gift to insurance companies, or Midwest conservatives who are against government spending except for the corporate farm subsidies in their home state, or Federal legislators of all parties who think it would be just peachy to build an extra three destroyers to keep the shipyards with their jobs open in their home state.  And I agree with you completely: the US healthcare system is pretty darn far from a free market.

[Balog]

Yeah, I'd say the majority of the money Congress spends is graft in one form or another. And "conservatives" who let it slide when it's bank bailouts or farm welfare or military pork are as much if not more to blame than liberals.