CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?
matthew gream
matthewgream at hotmail.com
Mon Oct 23 05:24:36 PDT 2000
Nathan Saper wrote:
>>and Sambo A. S. seem to miss, is that increased costs for a few mean
>>*savings* for everyone else.
>
>The costs for the few would rise much more than the savings for the
>many. Therefore, the number of people with genetic abnormalities who
>could not afford insurance would rise, while the number of genetically
>normal people who could afford insurance would not be altered
>drastically.
Isn't this one of the key points of the whole issue: where does the balance
lie ?
One the one hand, individuals should have the freedom to live as they
please, so long as it does not affect (too much) the way other people choose
to live. If you desire to live an unhealthy lifestyle, that is fine, so long
as you live with the consequences - i.e. higher insurance premiums. I choose
to live a healthy lifestyle, therefore I would expect to pay less in
insurance premiums. On the other hand, I do not mind cross subsidising the
rest of society to a certain extent, in order to stop everything falling
apart, and to generally know that there is some safety for "my way of life",
and to enjoy some common things for everyone.
Certainly, I find it irritating that I should pay excessive costs to support
a health care system that largely caters to supporting the many people that
have chosen to drink or live their way to an unhealthy later life. Though, I
am not sure I want to deny these people treatment because of the social
carnage and damage to humanity it will cause, and perhaps twenty years ago,
people were less enlightened about the possibility of making these choices.
So perhaps the thing is - how do you list all the pros and cons and costs
and everything else, then find an acceptable balance that is liberal "user
pays", but has a safety net (i.e. you will not suffer, but you probably
won't have a high quality life).
Best regards,
Matthew.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list