Mandatory Health Insurance Now!(Letters) (Letter to the Editor)

• Author: Krampitz, Edwin, Jr.

Ronald Bailey advocates "Mandatory Health Insurance Now!" (November). So did some Republicans in Congress during the height of the Billarycare proposal 10 years ago, and so has The Economist. Here's why they're all wrong.

Bailey likens a mandate that adults buy health insurance to requirements for car and home insurance. This is a bad analogy. If you don't drive or own a car, you don't have to buy auto insurance. If you aren't actually paying a mortgage, you don't have to buy home insurance.

Bailey is also guilty of bad math. He claims policies covering catastrophic expenses "typically" cost less than $300 per month for a family of four. A typical figure for just a married couple (no children, both in excellent health) is actually over $400 a month. The Richmond Times-Dispatch just mentioned the case of one couple who were quoted $1,700 per month for full coverage by Anthem, the health insurer of last resort in Virginia. Oh, and good luck getting coverage at any price if you have any pre-existing conditions or a child with medical problems. Don't forget the market: Impose a mandate, and watch premiums skyrocket as insurers take advantage.

Bailey mentions couples with income of more than $50,000 a year who "choose" to go without health insurance. Someone working for a company making that amount typically would have employer-provided insurance. A little checking would reveal that many of these people are self-employed, trying to run small businesses, or working several part-time jobs to make that amount, and that this is not what they necessarily make every year. Fifty grand is not a lot of income any more: In many areas of the country it is not enough to qualify for a home mortgage, for example. Impose a mandate, and see a lot of struggling small businesses close.

Realistically speaking, what would Bailey propose doing with those who lose their jobs and are unable to pay for this mandated health insurance? Throw them in jail? Fine them? If they can't afford insurance, how will they afford a fine? Mandating health insurance in response to the ongoing crisis in medical care is like solving the problem of affordable housing by mandating that everyone buy a house. Such a mandate is unworkable, unconstitutional, and unlibertarian.

Edwin Krampitz Jr.

Drewryville, VA

The Ronald Bailey article is interesting, but there seem to be two striking flaws in the proposal. Group health insurance in large companies protects the individual with costly...