Individual Mandate

In a society where hospitals cannot turn away patients, regardless of their ability or willingness to pay, individual mandate on health insurance is a necessity.

I have seen and heard so many times of lives that withered away unnecessarily because of poverty. In many parts of the world, the poor do not get health care. The doctors and medical industry operate as any other commercial establishment: fee for services. Health care, or insurance, for people in those societies, is a true personal choice, frequently painful.

In the USA, hospitals cannot turn away patients. Go to any community hospital and observe the long queue in the emergency room. Those are people who cannot afford regular medical care and they will get free health care from the hospital. The USA is not a “fee for service” country. We pretend that health care is not an economical activity.

But health care is among the largest commercial industries in this country. It is also the only one where both the consumer and the provider rarely know the costs of the services. Services will be rendered and received. Provider and consumer part happily. Someone else will arrange the payments. Sigh. If this is not stupid, it is at least weird.

My kid has this condition that requires a special medicine. When she received the prescription, she also got a solicitation from a pharmacy that promised to deliver the medicine to her free of charge! Wow. Free medicine. She agreed. When she received the statement from the insurance company, she was startled to learn the pharmacy charge nearly 10 times the amount to the insurance company. (Yes, she stopped the service and disputed the claim.) If she did not have insurance, who would pay for this? Yes, everyone.

If we hold on to the ideology that everyone should get medical care, then everyone must bear their share of the burden. That’s individual mandate and the only way this can work.

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