Insurance too expesive? Really?

We just bought Amanda health insurance the other day: it cost about $50 a month. It's one of those "high deductible" insurance packages that Congress wants to make illegal. People don't seem to understand the purpose of insurance, and its noble ideal. Through insurance, we are able to share risk, and when someone is unlucky enough to protract an illness that they are not able to pay for (e.g., cancer), then insurance (paid for by others who did not get serious illnesses) covers the sickness. It is ridiculous to demand that insurance covers things like check-ups because they have nothing to do with risk. Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite economists and authors, explains this distortion and how it has artificially increased insurance premiums:

Politicians are already one of the main reasons why medical insurance is so expensive. Insurance is designed to cover risks but politicians are in the business of distributing largesse. Nothing is easier for politicians than to mandate things that insurance companies must cover, without the slightest regard for how such additional coverage will raise the cost of insurance.

If insurance covered only those things that most people are most concerned about-- the high cost of a major medical expense-- the price would be much lower than it is today, with politicians piling on mandate after mandate.

Since insurance covers risks, there is no reason for it to cover annual checkups, because it is known in advance that annual checkups occur once a year. Automobile insurance does not cover oil changes, much less the purchase of gasoline, since these are regular recurrences, not risks.

But politicians in the business of distributing largesse-- especially with somebody else's money-- cannot resist the temptation to pass laws adding things to insurance coverage. Many of those who are pushing for more government involvement in medical care are already talking about extending insurance coverage to "mental health"-- which is to say, giving shrinks and hypochondriacs a blank check drawn on the federal treasury.

This is why, I'm not a member of the APA and never will be: Because, I do not believe that we should force others to pay us (mental health professionals). If our services are such that force is necessary for us to get gainful employment, then something is seriously wrong.