Analysis for Critical Thinkers

An interesting observation can be made when you talk to your friends and coworkers. Ask them to tell you about their experiences with their medical insurance companies. Often you will hear their horror stories about what charges their insurance company would not pay for. What has become more and more prevalent in this nanny-state climate that we have lived in is this notion that something is wrong if someone actually has to lay out any of their own money for their own health care. We have become so conditioned to expect somebody else to pay for everything regarding our medical care that we are shocked if we have to spend our own money on ourselves or our families.

 This partially explains why medical care is so expensive. There are few other purchases in life where the buyer cares nothing about the price because someone else is paying for it. Why shop around or even ask what the price will be if you do not have to pay for it yourself?

For those that have medical insurance either through your workplace or through your own purchase, you are paying for your medical care indirectly. However, the certain amount that you pay in premiums gets you only a certain level of service from your insurance company. One might hope that there should be no limits to the benefits that you think that you should be able to receive. This of course is nonsense.

Insurance companies – like other companies – exist to make money. They are not a charity that works for free to make sure that you do not have to. They must make a profit in order to stay in business and to pay their taxes and to pay their employees. Through risk assessment, they determine how risky their insured pool is and how likely they are to pay out a certain amount in payments and hold up their end of the bargain.

Some common comments regarding medical insurance are:

-Why will they only pay for the generic? I want (or my doctor wants me to have) the name brand version.
You are free to buy and version that you wish. Forcing insurance companies to buy what you want will raise the cost to everybody including those that either use the generic or need no drugs at all.

– I can’t believe they dont cover that laser eye surgery. I really want that!
Maybe a different company will. Or you could save up for it yourself!– How come these evil companies won’t accept preexisting cancer patients or somkers into their plan?
It is too expensive for the rest of the customers. They must limit the risk that they spread among all of the rate payers.

– I think Big Government should make these companies pay for my abortion. It’s not fair!
When Big Government enacts such “noble” laws to force insurance companies to pay for things that they do not wish to pay for, it either drives the rates up to unaffordable for other customers or drives the company out of business entirely. Either way, people will no longer have insurance.

-Whatever. I think that Big Government should just take care of all of our health care.
Exactly my point. Many people think that there should be some new law to ensure that they will no longer have to be responsible and self sufficient.

-But I want someone else to pay!

Some of my friends will complain that their insurance company will not pay for certain things that they either want or need and will in turn refuse to get the treatment. They will however, often have the latest cell phone, HD television and the big cable package. It is not that they are cheap or cannot afford the additional medical costs – it is just that they have been so conditioned that someone else should be paying for it for them.

For those that legitimately cannot afford medical insurance, they have different circumstances. Not surprisingly though, they also hope that there will be someone else paying. People flock around politicians who promise to push for laws that will have some other segment of society pay for them. Do not overlook the multitude of charities – as well as religious organizations – who help those in need.

A church? Why should I have to be subjected to religious stuff? I want people to pay for me on MY terms without any conditions!

In this age of entitlement where politicians are elected based on the hope that they will steal money from someone else to provide the voter with something “free”, it is no wonder that we have all been brainwashed to some degree to believe that this is somehow right. Do not forget that whether it is Big Government or private insurance that you ask to pay for something that you want or need, you are really saying “Why doesn’t someone else pay for me?”

In a recent discussion with a friend, he was shocked that I did not support the President of the United States regarding his plan to enact socialised health care in this country. The issue at hand was not the pros and cons of the plan – these issues are a discussion in and of themselves. Rather, the point under discussion was my refusal to support the President on this health care issue.

“You just want to see him fail”, said my friend.

His assessment was in fact true. I was not surprised that my friend did not wish to discuss the health care legislation itself. This friend commonly avoids the issue at hand and would rather discuss me and my alleged faults instead. What did surprise me though was HIS surprise at my lack of support for the President. This discussion could have taken a turn toward citing examples of times when he did not support a former President, but I wished to stay on my main point of being surprised.

Why is it shocking that someone may not support a particular agenda of the President? It is not as if I do not support the President and his office in general, but I do not support certain actions in particular that he wishes to take. It is quite accurate to say that I wish to see him fail in his goals of bringing socialism to this country. I wish to see any politician fail in their efforts to do things that I disagree with. I wish to see politicians get voted out of office if they do things which I am against. This is the democratic process in its very essence.

While I am happy to discuss my reasoning and analysis of current topics such as health care reform, I am also interested in hearing well thought out counter arguments to my position. This is how we learn and how we grow. What I do wish to stop though is the suprise, shock and outrage that I may not support the President of the United States. If he does things with which I agree, then he will have my full support. I would not expect it to be any other way.