Requirement to buy health insurance

Some people are screaming about this in the Obamacare. Not me. I think it makes perfect sense. Nothing else about the federal government insurance taking over the industry does. We are required by law to carry automobile insurance to protect the other driver. We are required to carry mortgage insurance to protect the bank who loaned us the mortgage. When you buy or lease a car I think the company that loans you the money will require full property coverage until its paid for. I don't know any home owners who don't have fire and theft coverage, and many renters do, but it may depend on where you live. If there were really a free market for health insurance, and you didn't want it, there could be a law that you carry something to protect the hospital and staff who might be called on to treat you during a catastrophic event or illness (because they pass that cost on to me, so if you don't carry it, you're expecting me to pay). If employers hadn't gotten into the business of health insurance after WWII to attract better workers, I think we'd all have better choices and better coverage. We had private health insurance probably 10-15 years early in our married life and careers. That chunk they take off the top of your salary could have been in your hands with you deciding if you wanted well-care, pregnancy, vision or dental, or whatever. The government could have been there for the 10% who would be too high a risk for private plans (mental illness, inherited problems, catastrophic, etc.). We are in this cost situation because of government care--there's fraud, lack of oversite, and burdensome regulations. And lawyers, of course. Don't forget the law suits.

Nor do I agree with many people my age who say it's just terrible that Obama wants to rein in the costs of Medicare. I really question that I needed to be hospitalized last summer (bill was well over $5,000, but I have no way of knowing what it really was, because by the time if filtered down to me it was something like $300 out of my pocket). I know other seniors who have experienced the same--without the insurance, would they have needed that "level" of care? Unfortunately, once you start down that road--emergency room, intensive care, intubation, surgery, dialysis, and then maybe complications from bacterial infections after surgery plus all the misery and anxiety of being hospitalized, then the follow up, yes, I'd say someone needs to really look at this. I wonder sometimes if elders are being used as guinea pigs, considering that the billions of dollars spent in those final weeks and months of life often don't extend life.

I tried to look up the percentage of income that goes to health care, but unfortunately that figure depends on the political views of the writer. I saw everything from 5.7% to 15%. And if they say it costs more than housing, they aren't factoring in all the costs of housing, and they are adding in the employer's contribution for health care. Apples. Oranges. But it is a lot and it's going up fast. And it will be more if the government does it, with worse care. Folks. We know that from experience. Medicare is out of control BECAUSE it is a government program. Why would it be different if you had it too?