Branch Owner, TWFG Insurance Services, Fremont California and the Greater Bay Area Representing Dozens of Insurance Carriers
Ethics is a big debate on many laws not just health insurance. Unfortunately like so many laws ethics can vary since so many people these days have a different code of ethics. With that being said the law is you must have health insurance or be penalized for not having the coverage.
You ask a philosophical question in a practical environment. My personal opinion is that it is not ethical to force a person to purchase any product or service. The counterpart to that though is that it is not ethical for someone to expect others to pay their health care expenses.
In a perfect world everyone would act responsibly, a part of which is managing life's risks, one of which is your health care needs, both present and future. As experience has shown us, not everyone acts responsibly and every individual has their own idea on what an acceptable level of risk is for them. A health insurance plan with a $10,000 deductible would be of no concern to Bill Gates or Donald Trump, that same degree of financial exposure would be a financial catastrophe for a minimum wage worker. Other people are philosophically opposed to the concept of health insurance and others just don't have enough regard for their fellow citizens that they feel any guilt about passing their burdens off onto their neighbors.
Our society is struggling with this issue and will be for years to come. What you must come to grips with is that as of 2014 you now are in a legal environment which does essentially require that you have health insurance. Fortunately, at this time, it is not a criminal offense to not have health insurance and you are only subject to a mild (but growing over time) penalty for being uninsured.
Regional Marketing Director, Capital Choice Financial Group,
I believe that making everyone have health insurance or get penalized is against our constitutional rights. This infringes on our individual rights. What is worse however, is that coverage choices have shrunk along with higher deductibles and this is all because the government has set the criteria for plans.
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In a perfect world everyone would act responsibly, a part of which is managing life's risks, one of which is your health care needs, both present and future. As experience has shown us, not everyone acts responsibly and every individual has their own idea on what an acceptable level of risk is for them. A health insurance plan with a $10,000 deductible would be of no concern to Bill Gates or Donald Trump, that same degree of financial exposure would be a financial catastrophe for a minimum wage worker. Other people are philosophically opposed to the concept of health insurance and others just don't have enough regard for their fellow citizens that they feel any guilt about passing their burdens off onto their neighbors.
Our society is struggling with this issue and will be for years to come. What you must come to grips with is that as of 2014 you now are in a legal environment which does essentially require that you have health insurance. Fortunately, at this time, it is not a criminal offense to not have health insurance and you are only subject to a mild (but growing over time) penalty for being uninsured.