Young FREELY Choosing Not to Buy Health Insurance

TheDanold

TheDanold

Unimatrix
So it is true that many young people simply freely choose NOT to pay for health insurance when they could spend their money elsewhere.

"YOUNG people are hard to pin down. They graduate from school. They jump between employers, or in and out of employment. They leave their parental home for a shared flat, a friend's couch, or a house they can scarcely afford. They move to New York, San Francisco, Portland, or even Austin.

And so they often wander away from the comforts of health-care insurance. According to the Census Bureau, almost 30% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are uninsured. For people aged 45 to 64 the number is just 14%.

A healthy young person seldom requires medical attention. So forgoing insurance is an understandable decision."
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9905661

They or anyone else should not be FORCED to buy insurance and give up their freedom. People are responsible for themselves, despite "seemingly" good intentions from those on the far left, they should not be protected from their own decisions.
 
OMG we should criminalize them, don't they believe in socialism
Most prob don't also know them dems want to force them to buy it.
 
Topspin said:
dungshit arrives, office depot must be closed
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"Dungshit" is redundant. At least come up with something that makes sense, although I can sympathize with the difficulty of coming up with a demeaning name for someone who refers to himself as "Dungheap."

Thanks for playing though, junior.
 
great you chime in on a healthcare debate with that gem and then want to evaluate my slam.
Slow day in retail I guess?
 
Dungheap said:
It's a moronathon in here.
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There's no need for that, look, should young people who are clearly opting not to buy insurance because they don't want it, be forced to instead?
I never did in my early 20's, instead I paid off my education and had some money in savings. I don't regret it a bit.
Did I take a risk? I suppose, but the object of government is not to eliminate risk that people freely ascribe to in their actions.
 
dungs one of those dem lemmings that likes anything the far left proposes.
obviously the overwhelming majority of young adults don't think it should be manditory.
 
TheDanold said:
There's no need for that, look, should young people who are clearly opting not to buy insurance because they don't want it, be forced to instead?
I never did in my early 20's, instead I paid off my education and had some money in savings. I don't regret it a bit.
Did I take a risk? I suppose, but the object of government is not to eliminate risk that people freely ascribe to in their actions.
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You assume that they are "clearly opting not to buy insurance because they don't want it" when there is no real evidence to support that in the article you link to. All that article says is that they aren't buying health insurance. It's not saying that they have the means to buy it but don't want it. It's just saying that they aren't purchasing it.

Now, certainly there are some people that are opting not to purchase health insurance despite their ability to do so, but I haven't seen the numbers on how many people that is.

I think it's ludicrous to just assume that everyone that doesn't purchase X doesn't want X, when the reality could be that everyone really really wants X but can't afford it.

That's all.
 
I happen to know that a lot of it is because they can't afford it. I know several friends of mine who would have to pay some pretty hefty premiums and they're not smokers or overweight and they dont have any preexisting conditions.

When they have an education to pay off, moving expenses after and during college, car payments, rent, etc, paying for health insurance isn't as much of an option.
 
Dungheap said:
You assume that they are "clearly opting not to buy insurance because they don't want it" when there is no real evidence to support that in the article you link to. All that article says is that they aren't buying health insurance. It's not saying that they have the means to buy it but don't want it. It's just saying that they aren't purchasing it.

Now, certainly there are some people that are opting not to purchase health insurance despite their ability to do so, but I haven't seen the numbers on how many people that is.

I think it's ludicrous to just assume that everyone that doesn't purchase X doesn't want X, when the reality could be that everyone really really wants X but can't afford it.

That's all.
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Well lots of people really really want to eat better, buy a house or get a better education or insurance or a car. You need to work for those things.

Remember that with the taxes NOT spent on government healthcare more Americans could afford it and it would be cheaper as healthcare providers would not have as much tax to pay either.
Plus there is always charity.
 
The government should do what it can to make it more affordable for people who have trouble affording it. The free market sure isn't going to do that, and it's a moral matter. Being as markets are amoral, this is where government needs to step in.
 
Topspin said:
dungs one of those dem lemmings that likes anything the far left proposes.
obviously the overwhelming majority of young adults don't think it should be manditory.
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How is it obvious? Based on the polling data I have seen, young adults are more supportive of universal healthcare than adults generally. 62% of Americans aged 17-29 support having one health insurance program covering all Americans that would be administered by the government and paid for by taxpayers. For all adults only 47% support such a system.

Anecdotes are not evidence, they're anecdotes.
 
ib1yysguy said:
I happen to know that a lot of it is because they can't afford it. I know several friends of mine who would have to pay some pretty hefty premiums and they're not smokers or overweight and they dont have any preexisting conditions.

When they have an education to pay off, moving expenses after and during college, car payments, rent, etc, paying for health insurance isn't as much of an option.
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Right, perfect example. They would rather spend their money on a car or education, THOSE are more important priorities for them.
Was for me too.

They could sell the car and bus or live from home, get a roommate or more roommates to lower the rent or just quit college and find a job with health insurance now. But they consider the benefits of not doing any of that more important than having healthcare insurance coverage now.
 
Dungheap said:
How is it obvious? Based on the polling data I have seen, young adults are more supportive of universal healthcare than adults generally. 62% of Americans aged 17-29 support having one health insurance program covering all Americans that would be administered by the government and paid for by taxpayers. For all adults only 47% support such a system.

Anecdotes are not evidence, they're anecdotes.
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That's because they are younger and more naive, once they realize that the healthcare isn't really "free" and just means much larger taxes, the polls would shift quite dramatically.
 
ib1yysguy said:
The government should do what it can to make it more affordable for people who have trouble affording it. The free market sure isn't going to do that, and it's a moral matter. Being as markets are amoral, this is where government needs to step in.
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???
What "free market"? Healthcare is the most regulated industry in America. Remember the "Patients Rights Act" that Clinton pushed for that meant a lot more government oversight to "improve" healthcare? The only thing that extra regulation did was make healthcare prices soar even more and end a lot of cheaper healthcare.

The best way to make healthcare cheaper as it once was is to undo what we have done and start repealing government regulations that were added to healthcare. Try and actually make it a "free market".
:)
 
TheDanold said:
That's because they are younger and more naive, once they realize that the healthcare isn't really "free" and just means much larger taxes, the polls would shift quite dramatically.
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Well, isn't the flip-side to your "the young are naive" schtick that the young are naively not purchasing health insurance because they fail to appreciate the risk they are taking on?

And really, the question specifically includes the fact that the system would be paid for by taxpayers. You think the young are too stupid to realize that they are taxpayers or will be shortly?

And really I was posting that information in response to topper's ill-informed comment that the "overwhelming majority of young adults don't think [health insurance] should be manditory (sic)," not to get into a discussion of the relative naivete of young adults.

Just backtrack from your OP and we'll move along here, OK.
 
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