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This is a stale discussion, but, auto insurance is not designed to be a wealth transfer to bad drivers. That's why you, as a safe driver, can pay a very small premium. Meanwhile, Mr. RacerX (with his super-powered sports car, speeding tickets, and an actuarial risk profile which suggests he is more likely to require payouts) will pay more. More importantly, Mr. RacerX cannot call the insurance company from the scene of an accident, say that he needs auto care, and expect to pay the same rate that you do. Yet this is the financial equivalent of knowing that you have cancer, and signing up for a new insurance policy. Finally, there's catastrophic health care insurance (which the ACA has more or less outlawed) which is in fact similar to auto insurance... then there are fancier plans with more coverage, which are more like warranty / service plans for your car. If you have an old car with 300,000 miles on it, it is likely to need more service or develop a crazy expensive engine issue than a brand-new car. If a warranty service plan or similar contract is available to you, you would expect to pay more for it. Likewise a human being, but the ACA has both mandated these plans and limited the amount that older human beings may be charged. Please note that the moral rectitude, overall desirability, or similar characteristics of the wealth transfers associated with the ACA, or of other hypothetical wealth transfers or health-care related scheme... are not addressed by this post, which examines only financial structures. (The grandparent post examined only incentive structures.) |