Should it be legal to charge the disabled or the sick more for health insurance than others?

[CreekDog]

This is a question about your opinion and your values, not what is legal or illegal or soon to be illegal.

Which choice is closest to your belief?

9 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	In my opinion it should be legal to charge the disabled or the sick more for health insurance than others
	0 (0%)
	In my opinion it should NOT be legal to charge the disabled or the sick more for health insurance than others
	9 (100%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[elleng]

1. Yes, its insurance, and should be 'legal.'

Has nothing to do with my values, just recognize something about the way insurance works.

[CreekDog]

5. you think it should be legal to charge the disabled more?

really?

wow.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. "insurance works" the way the law allows it to.

much the way "traffic works". In the absence of laws, traffic actually works pretty badly.

The ACA eliminates gender as a rating criteria. Women spend 30% more over their lifetimes for medical care. Should the law defer to "the way insurance works" to charge women, or employers who employ predominately women, 30% more for coverage?

[CreekDog]

8. but you can't charge the disabled more for airplane tickets or for full service gas

what about these things?

should they be charged more for these things?

[flamingdem]

2. I don't like it but let's face it the young

are going to spend less and so have to be incentized with lower rates. The elderly use it so it's a priority for their life. We'd need a new system, free, to get rid of this scale of use and related pricing.

[CreekDog]

3. So sorry Pintobean, so sorry.

I apologize for making my questions so difficult. I will try harder next time to write better questions.

Best wishes to you.

[kestrel91316]

4. I think it should be an income-based sliding scale, just like income taxes. Hell, if it were Single

Payer, that's exactly how it would be. Now there's an idea.

But since it's still medical insurance, I think having older paying a little more than younger is fair. I do NOT like that we pay 3X more.

[DevonRex]

6. Hell no. And I include obesity in there, too. because it's linked to POVERTY

and poor health care to begin with. A lack of emphasis on healthy living because of lack of access to healthier foods, having to "stretch" meals with carbs and fats that in turn decrease physical activity when they make up a large and consistent part of the diet.

[kelly1mm]

20. Isn't smoking linked to poverty? Should smokers have to pay more (ACA allows this)? nt

[DevonRex]

21. If it were up to me it would be free across the board.

We allow the sale of the most addictive substance and then penalize people for not being able to quit? It's just stupid.

And I don't give a rat's ass who has been able to quit.

[etherealtruth]

9. Universal Health-care/ Single payer is the only rational answer

[steve2470]

11. agreed ! nt

[oldhippie]

10. Kinda depends on what your concept of "insurance" is .......

And that can vary widely. It's all in the concept of pools. Who do you choose to have in the pool with you?

[Warren DeMontague]

12. No.

The most sound policy, financially as well as morally, is to have as large a pool as possible to spread out individual risk and various factors (how many non-smokers ride motorcycles? How many vegans have multiple sex partners?) ... Rather than trying to play the game of picking and choosing who is a better bet insurance-wise, spread it out and make everyone an equal stakeholder.

Of course, the best way to go would be a SPHC system.

[dkf]

13. Health insurance as a national policy sucks.

Pay less, pay more, we all overpay compared to the rest of the world.

[CreekDog]

14. yes, but in our current system, should you be able to charge the disabled more?

it's really not that complicated.

[dkf]

15. That's how it is supposed to work in insurance. That's why it sucks.

And beyond the premiums the co pays also make sicker older people pay more.

The delusion is thinking health insurance prevents bankruptcy too.

Damn I hate this system.

Irony is I am pretty healthy and don't pay much. But I know an inefficient system that drives people to financial ruin when I see it.

[XemaSab]

16. I have asthma

and even if I wind up in the ER for an evening, it's still cheaper to fork over the $500 than it is to pay $600 A MONTH for insurance.

[Throd]

17. Why are you sick? Natural, unavoidable causes? Excessive alcohol? Cigarettes? Cheeseburger diet?

Details matter.

[Barack_America]

18. No. Health Insurance should be BEFORE the fact.

And contribution into the system starts as a child. That's the entire point of requiring coverage for all.

So, unless you advocate genetic testing of children to predetermine risk of illness, or rates based on socioeconomic advantage or family history, we all enter into the system with the same risk.

The unlucky among us will recoup what we pay in (and more). The lucky among us will not. But the point is that the safety was there for all of us, equally.

[ecstatic]

19. Stuff we can't control? No. Stuff we can control? Maybe

For instance, some people pay more for auto insurance based on driving history. But I think if everyone paid in, we would all have a low, fair rate.

[TheKentuckian]

22. Insurance should be illegal save for maybe some thrills package one can elect.

Even that should allow for kicking folks while they are down.

Health care is a right, paid for the way we pay for common defense from martial forces...progressive taxes. Health care is just another version of the common defense and general welfare.

[CFLDem]

23. No one should be charged

since we should have universal healthcare like any sane country would have.

[CreekDog]

24. yes but until that system?

[CFLDem]

25. Until that system all customers should be charged equally.

It's called a risk pool for a reason.

[CreekDog]

26. thanks, i agree

[BenzoDia]

27. Nope. At least not the disabled or sick in the traditional sense.

It's not like car insurance where you expect everyone to drive at a certain level.

With health, some people are naturally not as healthy as others.

[cheapdate]

28. Absolutely not. That's indecent and an affront to humanity.

Even on a battlefield we render aid to enemy wounded. I'm astonished at some of the answers here. If a human being is sick or injured and in need of care we should help them, not sit in judgement of the degree of culpability they have in their illness.