Insurance and Mandatory Insurance

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

Is it an infringement on our rights for a state to force us to have car insurance in order to drive a vehicle otherwise be penalized? Also, shouldn't health care be affordable so we wouldn't need health insurance in the first place?

[Brian4Liberty]

Is it an infringement on our rights for a state to force us to have car insurance in order to drive a vehicle otherwise be penalized? Also, shouldn't health care be affordable so we wouldn't need health insurance in the first place?

IMHO, yes and yes.

[Danke]

If you travel in your car, you do not need insurance. If you drive a motor vehicle, you do. The problem for most of those that know this is, it seems like more of a hassle continually having to deal with the cops and courts than just paying the registration and insurance fees.

[satchelmcqueen]

yes and yes

[dannno]

Forcing everybody to buy insurance drives the prices up a lot because people who are more inclined to be risk takers and get into an accident in the first place are more inclined to drive without insurance. So by not forcing people to buy insurance the insurance companies would not have to cover so many risky drivers and the premiums would be lower. The insurance company cannot use your choice to buy insurance as a gauge of how much of a risk taker you are, other than the level of insurance you buy.

On the other hand, if a poor person does not have insurance and hits your car, who would pay for it? Well, I have insurance that pays for damage done to my car by people who are not insured, so I guess that is one solution.

[Zippyjuan]

I don't think having insurance causes drivers to take on more risk in the way they drive. Insurance is supposed to spread the costs and risks among all users (driving or medicine) so that a catastrophic event is still affordable.

Consider a person without medical insurance and is badly injured. Should a hospital be able to refuse to treat them and allow them to die? That is an ethical question. We have decided (or our government) has dediced that it would be inhumane to refuse treatment to somebody who does not have insurance. So who pays? All of us. The hospital adds the cost of uninsured patients to what they bill other patients. Or the government picks up some or all of the tab which again means that we as taxpayers pay for the uninsured.

[dannno]

I don't think having insurance causes drivers to take on more risk in the way they drive. Insurance is supposed to spread the costs and risks among all users (driving or medicine) so that a catastrophic event is still affordable.

Well my point was the opposite... drivers who CHOOSE to take on more insurance are generally safer drivers. This is a finding made by insurance companies over the years, and it is taught in college level insurance courses. Everybody has different risk tolerances, and they generally bleed into other areas. By forcing everyone to have insurance, insurance companies are essentially required to take on customers who would not normally insure themselves, are inherently bigger risk takers, and must raise premiums to compensate.

Even if somebody isn't insured, the person who has insurance has the option to insure themselves against those people so they retain no losses. There is no reason to force everybody to have insurance.





Consider a person without medical insurance and is badly injured. Should a hospital be able to refuse to treat them and allow them to die? That is an ethical question. We have decided (or our government) has dediced that it would be inhumane to refuse treatment to somebody who does not have insurance. So who pays? All of us. The hospital adds the cost of uninsured patients to what they bill other patients. Or the government picks up some or all of the tab which again means that we as taxpayers pay for the uninsured.

The state has nothing to do with the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take, which already says precisely that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath). The truth is that doctors were better off when they were taking payment from those who could pay and not taking payment from those who could not. Now that the government pays, everything is so expensive and so doctors have a tough time making a profit. Insurance companies and medical industrial complex have learned to leech so much money out of the medical system that doctors are barely able to operate on their own.

[akihabro]

Well in California they WILL suspend your license if you don't have some form of car insurance. I'm sure illegal immigrants driving only accelerated this law.
I don't even want insurance. I'd be different if I drove a nice car. I've hit inanimate objects not people or their cars. Another problem if you get into an accident that isn't your fault you'll still get a point on your record which will cause your rates to go up. Even though I've been a non destructive driver I still am penalized because of other peoples driving habits.