I do agree that I should not have to pay for other people’s self inflicted health problems, the point of my comment was more about the amount of money the responsible family had already paid. Perhaps those with prexisting conditions should have a deductible of (number of years uninsured) x (going rate for health insurance). In the case of Mr. HIPPY, his deductible should be a hypothetical $240,000. I don’t see anything unethical about that since the responsible family would have paid that much over the course of 20 years for insurance. As far as not paying for someone elses bad habits, we could allow for voluntary drug and tobacco testing and those who opt in and test negative could be part of a cleaner insurance pool. Also, everything should have at least a small co pay, nothing should be completely free, because nothing is ever free, somebody will pay for it, the cost is just socialized within the pool of those who are insured). We should be allowed to pick what kind of plans and what kind of services are covered in our plans. If I don’t want to be a part of a plan that socializes the cost of birth control by demanding no copays, I should not be forced by government mandate.
