TheyCallMeBruce:

bobunf:

Forcing everyone to carry health insurance is like forcing everyone to carry auto insurance.

No it isn't. You're required to carry auto insurance to cover the damage you do to other people. Insurance to cover damage you do to yourself and your own property is entirely optional.

Health insurance is in the latter category. Last time I checked, my health insurance doesn't cover someone else who gets sick if I go to work with the flu.

"Forcing everyone to carry health insurance is like forcing everyone to carry auto insurance. "

Absolutely. If you don't drive auto insurance is optional and if you don't live so is health insurance.

"No it isn't. You're required to carry auto insurance to cover the damage you do to other people. Insurance to cover damage you do to yourself and your own property is entirely optional."

When you get hospitalized and can't pay for your services you damage everyone else who has to pay for you.

" Last time I checked, my health insurance doesn't cover someone else who gets sick if I go to work with the flu."

Actually it covers the other people in your plan, even if they catch the flu from someone else. That is why we have insurance - to spread the risks through premiums and cover each other. If your insurance only paid for you then you would literally self insure and no one else would be in you plan and you would have a savings account instead of health insurance. Since we do make other people ill as well as ourselves and share common resources it makes sense to have the largest pool of members in a plan in order to spread the risks as broadly as possible.