Pajamas Media has published my latest article, “Health Insurance and Personal Responsibility,” a reply to Wolf Blitzer’s remark about letting people without health insurance die.
While my piece was in processing, several others wrote about the issue as well, including Mike Rosen and John Goodman (who in turn links to several other articles on the matter). See also my previous post, “Tea Party Crowd Cheers Voluntary Health Charity.”
Following are some of my favorite quotes from the PJ article:
… Blitzer’s question presumes that the only three alternatives are overpriced insurance, letting him die, or forcing others to pay for his care. Thankfully, the real world offers us far better options. …
“Society” has no right to violate the rights of minorities or of individuals. Doctors, hospitals, and individuals who wish to help pay for others’ care remain free to do so, but they should not be forced by federal politicians to do so.
The deeper problem, the real reason a healthy 30 year old grows tempted to forgo health insurance, is that politicians have made the costs of health care and insurance ludicrously expensive. …
Free-market reforms make it easier for people to live and pursue a healthy and autonomous life. In moving toward that goal, all that needs to die are the misguided political controls on health care and insurance that have so thoroughly debilitated those fields.