01-25-2013, 02:12 PM
I think that this is a part of the problem with the notion of thinking of health care primarily as being paid for via health insurance. Rate adjustments based on risk is what insurance companies do. If you are a smoker and you want to buy term life insurance it's probably going to cost your more. If you are older, term life insurance is going to cost you more. The risk that the life insurance company will have to pay out for you is greater so they will ask for a higher premium payment to compensate for the risk. It's not surprising that health insurance companies faced with ever rising costs would want to act like insurance companies. It's one of the reasons we should ditch the notion of getting general health care primarily paid for by insurance companies.