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Kasz216 on 05 August 2009
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Rath said:
HappySqurriel said:
Rath said:

1) Allow insurance companies to require a check up every 2 years to maintain coverage. A person's overall health is easy to determine, and it doesn't matter what they were doing to maintain their health if they're healthy.

2) While being wealthier gives you some benefits to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a person can lead a very active and healthy lifetyle with a healthy diet on any budget.

3) Socialism is essentially the belief that you should punish the people who have made wise decisions in order to compensate for those who have made foolish decisions. How many people would think that it was appropriate to eliminate failing grades in school and to give everyone a "pass" regardless of how well the students performed because it was never appropriate to leave someone behind? Often it is the act of failing and hitting "Rock Bottom" that convinces someone who is making foolish decisions to pull their life together and make better decisions ...

 

 

1) That is so, so much worse than the original idea. Now its not punishing people for living a poor lifestyle, its punishing people for being in poor health. You're essentially pricing out of the market the people who need healthcare most - the unhealthy.

2) What about people who, for example, have to work two jobs in order to make ends meet. These people are living an unhealthy lifestyle and its not by choice. Its because they can't afford to live a healthy lifestyle.

3) I'm not entirely socialist, I just like a nice solid mix of socialism and capitalism - essentially what we have in New Zealand. The problem with letting people hit rockbottom is that they often stay at rock bottom, I think society needs a safety net so that as few people as possible are allowed to be left entirely behind by society.

As for eliminating failing grades, I think its stupid obviously. That really is a misrepresentation of what I'm saying.

Actually though this would qualify as a response to your first question.  The best private healthcares already do this to some degree.

The difference instead of being "penalized" for being unhealthy.  Your "rewarded" for being healthy.

Your given a checklist of "Healthy activities" you need to do, you pick how many you want to do and then you check em off the list and get your reward of money back.

For example you can sign up for a gym membership.  Or go see a insurance company paid dietician who can give you advice or go to a certified gym once a month... etc.