That is why we have insurance. It is a mechanism for converting individually unpredictable risk into predictable group expenses.
I mentioned "cheapest". The American private insurance model is clearly not the cheapest. Americans pay about twice as much as other industrialized nations for health care, with the added bonus of many people not being covered. Worse, because the insurance system is employer-centric, many people are trapped in jobs they hate for fear of losing their insurance, starting your own business without a spouse who provides insurance is incredibly risky and maybe impossible, and small businesses are at a massive cost disadvantage relative to big corporations because of the administrative overhead of health insurance.
The current American system is completely idiotic. It's incredibly expensive, it's inconsistent and unreliable, and it undermines the basic American value of working where you want or starting your own business.
Re:Moving Forward on Basic Income
by paulddraper on Wednesday June 01, 2016 @01:24PM
(#11816296)
> many people not being covered
Now, such behavior is illegal.
We don't need no liberty.
Part of the motivation for BI is that it's the least expensive means to the end of not having homeless people starving in the street (among other ends). Likewise, universal health care is the least expensive way to keep working-age adults from dying or being crippled by treatable health conditions.