10-19-2011, 02:02 PM
the_poochies wrote:In general I agree, although implementation is very complex.
Health insurance should be billed like auto insurance: people with unhealthy lifestyles should pay more just like lousy drivers pay more.
Car insurance doesn't really check for lousy drivers, just for those who get into accidents or get tickets, so it can make decisions based on objective criteria rather than actually monitoring driving (which would requite a massive invasion of privacy). Health insurance is moving in this direction: a 61-year old who had a heart attack was required to do three months of cardio rehab as a condition of keeping his insurance.
Beyond very crude measures like that, it's difficult to see how insurance companies wouldn't trample on privacy rights. For instance, it's known that women who do not stray more than about 4 lbs. from their ideal weight at age 18 have lower (and often much lower) rates of breast cancer. Can an insurance company require annual weigh-ins?
Further, some very serious health problems, including Type I diabetes, some cancers, elements of heart disease, have genetic components. Should those people be required to pay a surcharge?