DNA of relative indicts man, cuckolding ignored

[Tim May]

On Monday, July 7, 2003, at 10:15  AM, Stormwalker wrote:

> On Mon, 7 Jul 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
>
>> Insurance companies are private entities, so IMHO its moral for
>> them to gather intel (eg, checking blood for nicotine metabolites),
>> or give discounts for folks who've had certain inherited diseases 
>> fixed
>> in the future.  Or eat better, drive safer, exchange fluids less
>> promiscuously, whatever.
>
>   I have to disagree here. Medical insurance is not the same as life
>   or car insurance. It was all supposed to be a big pool that we would
>   draw on when needed. By skimmimng the cream, infant mortality rates
>   rise, along with a host of other problems.


No, it was NOT "all supposed to be a big pool that we would draw on 
when needed." You seem to be confusing medical insurance with 
nationalized social medicine.

Do I really need to explain this concept here, to subscribers here?

Medical insurance is a risk arbitrage betting scheme just like all 
other insurance: the actor selling a policy (a contract) is making the 
bet that he will make more money than he pays out. If he finds out 
something that alters the expectation of some illness or disease or 
hazardous activity, then he adjusts the policy premiums accordingly (or 
even refuses to sell a policy at any price, for understandable reasons).

By the way, any scheme to force everyone into the same insurance pool 
for the same premiums is profoundly antiliberty and is unconstitutional 
(violates all sorts of rights). "Opting out" of coverage is always 
fair. If I know I am not a rock climber, why would I pay for coverage 
for rock climbing falls? And if I know I am not engaging in queer sex 
or IV drug use, why would I pay for AIDS coverage/

(There are interesting scenarios for private testing for various genes 
or proclivities, followed by opting-out for the diseases one is highly 
unlikely to contract. This kind of "not paying for what you don't use" 
is a form of cherry-picking which only a total state could outlaw. 
Think about it.)


--Tim May