[aestra]

Healthcare isn't a product by any stretch of the imagination. We are human, we get sick, we get injured. Even the best of us. It is also morally wrong to not treat those who can't pay.

Disclaimer: I am not in support of the ACA, I don't think that it does a good or sane job of solving a problem.

[ctdonath]

Financial services are considered a product. I agree it's rather a stretch to use the term, but that's the norm for all financial services to be referred to in the industry as a "product". You pay an amount, you get a service; don't pay, don't get it.

Don't confuse "health insurance" (which ACA enforces purchase of) with "health care" (which, oddly, ACA doesn't).

[aestra]

>Financial services are considered a product

Absolutely, but you won't die if you don't receive financial services. That's what makes healthcare very very different. It isn't simply a "product," it is a lifesaving measure.

>Don't confuse "health insurance" (which ACA enforces purchase of) with "health care" (which, oddly, ACA doesn't).

Of course I am not confusing the two, but if you don't purchase health insurance, you can still get healthcare in some respect. If you cannot pay for it, then someone has to foot the bill.

If you are living, there is a good chance you will, at some time in your life, require healthcare past your ability to pay. Withholding care in the ER based on ability to pay or insurance status is already illegal (not to mention immoral). Requiring one to buy insurance to protect you, and everyone else, in that position isn't in the same realm of most things.

Note: I don't actually support the ACA because it is a very poor bandaid on a gushing wound with a lot of inefficiencies attached.

Note: most (if not all) States require car insurance as a requirement of owning and operating a motor vehicle. This is because operating a motor vehicle is dangerous and can potentially cause damage. There's a chance you'll cause damage beyond your ability to pay. Required insurance is to protect you and others, because a significant number of people will forgo insurance on their own.

However there is an arguably better chance of you getting sick or injured sometime in your life beyond your ability to pay than there is causing damage in a motor vehicle beyond your ability to pay.