Should I feel bad? (details inside)
Asked by
rojo (
24179
)
July 4th, 2018
The other day, while griping about insurance with a group of friends a very conservative minded friend mentioned that because he did not believe in socialized medicine and that is exactly what “Obamacare” was he was on Medi-Share, A Christian based health insurance alternative.
When it was pointed out to him that this was a form of socialism he became defensive and stated that it was not socialism because you were not forced to to be a member by the government. Another friend then pointed out that it most assuredly was as its purpose was to facilitate the distribution of goods or services through a collective to help all members by spreading the amassed wealth of the group around to cover the individual costs associated with illness or injury. He continued to insist that because the government was not involved it was not socialism.
He was obviously appalled at the thought and it must have caused him to give it a lot of subsequent thought and consideration because yesterday evening told us that after thinking about our discussion he has decided he is dropping out and buying insurance through a more standard health insurance program. We advised him not to do so if he was happy with it and felt it worked but he sounds adamant.
Should I feel bad that he has decided to make this change based purely on his misguided (in my opinion) feelings about socialism?
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11 Answers
No.
It sounds like your friend has far more issues to deal with besides his irrational fear of “socialism” and his desire to feed corporate power.
All private insurance works in the same basic way. Since insurance companies profit from premiums, it is on average a losing proposition for those buying it. You don’t buy insurance to make money, but to protect against worse case scenarios. The Medi-Share insurance is kind of gimmicky in taking money from those with net inputs to those with medical needs. The same thing goes on in any insurance company, but there is no specific tagging of who is a net payer and who is a net beneficiary. In general, the more healthy pay for the more sickly.
I don’t see where Medi-Share is any different from other insurance companies. They might actually be a better deal if they are non-profit or run at a small profit.
You shouldn’t feel too bad about pointing out these facts to your friend. I wonder, is there any kind of medicine other than “socialised” and how did socialised get to be a bad name anyway?
@flutherother The other kind is “You pay through the nose on your own” medicine!
You should have told him that insurance, by its very nature of collecting money from many and redistributing it to those in need, regardless of whether the amount paid out exceeds the lifetime amount paid in by the recipient, is fundamentally socialistic, insurance company fuckery notwithstanding.
Maybe then he would have decided to not get insurance at all, and one day gone bankrupt from a horrendous hospital bill.
Then you could feel sorry gloat to your heart’s content.
@janbb I know, you pay a lot for it, but it requires a social structure to deliver; universities, hospitals, doctors, nurses, medicines, libraries and even some human sympathy and kindness. Isn’t that “social”?
@flutherother That’s not what I meant at all. I meant if you don’t have health insurance or universal healthcare, you have to pay for it yourself and it will cost you a fortune. I’m all in favor of universal healthcare and paying for it through taxes.
Medishare is not a form of socialized medicine. It is a private self-insured plan. Self-insured plans are great; I was part of one for many years.
We can’t help when others are dumb.
No, it’s not your fault if this guy can’t figure out how health insurance works, or if he works against his own best interest, based on whims, and a lack of understanding of how things work, and what they actually mean.
Most people who are against socialism don’t have any real issue with libertarian socialism (voluntary and self-directed) but hold a hard line against state socialism which is compulsory and gov’t managed. In the colloquial sense when conservatives speak “socialism” it’s state socialism they are referring to. It’s also what most proponents of “socialism” are speaking of so unless you qualify that ahead of the conversation it’s a bit disingenuous to not approach it that way.
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