[lordnacho]

This is a bit like being forced to buy health insurance and complaining when you don't get ill.

I'm not saying the deal was reasonable for your friend, I don't know the details or his life situation. But like security guards or insurers, unions aren't always in "active" mode.

[joemi]

> This is a bit like being forced to buy health insurance and complaining when you don't get ill.

You're right, it is a bit like that. And similarly, many people don't want to be forced to buy health insurance. Especially if they don't think they'll get sick.

[vertex-four]

So what do they do when they do get sick? Die peacefully without costing the rest of us anything? I somehow doubt it - although I’d be happy to see any evidence to the contrary.

EDIT: to be clear, my argument isn’t “we shouldn’t have to pay for healthcare for others”, it’s “if people refuse to pay into the healthcare system when they are able to but still demand treatment when they need it, that’s a broken system”.

[joemi]

I don't know what they do. I'm not one of those people and I'm not arguing for or against health insurance. All I was trying to do was point out that the health insurance - union comparison has other parallels than what OP brought up.

[enraged_camel]

Do you feel the same way about car insurance? Should people not be required to have active insurance if they don't think they will get into an accident?

What about vaccination?

I'm just curious how far you can take your logic before you realize that it is erroneous.

[joemi]

Whoa. Calm down. I wasn't saying I felt that way. Please don't make such spurious assumptions about me just for making what seemed like a notable comparison.

But since you mentioned car insurance, did you know that two US states don't require car insurance? Have you ever wondered why that is? Are those entire states insane? How can anyone consider driving there ever? Surely the system can't work, can it? (Note: Once again I'm not arguing for or against it.)