South metro letters

Last update: October 20, 2009 - 4:19 PM

Clearing up flawed insurance analogies

I am tired of hearing flawed analogies about health insurance.

The first analogy, in the Oct. 10 opinion section, is that health care is no more a right than the right to own a car or a home. What the author seems to ignore is that any person severely injured or sick will be treated upon arrival at a hospital, whether or not they have insurance. Apparently health care already is a "right." Does the author truly believe that the uninsured should be allowed to perish in the emergency room while the insured pick their way around the dead and dying?

The second analogy, from a previous writer, is that purchase of health insurance should be optional, like comprehensive car insurance. A better analogy would be liability car insurance, which is not optional. Liability insurance is mandatory because when the motorist without insurance smashes into my car, he inflicts a loss on me. Similarly, a person without health insurance who is injured or becomes sick will be treated anyway. These costs will be inflicted on the rest of us, as hospitals and doctors require higher fees to recoup uninsured costs.

If we truly decide as a society that health care is not a right, then I am OK with optional insurance. Until then it should be mandatory like liability car insurance.

HAROLD ROBERTS

PRIOR LAKE

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