The whole idea of insurance is to spread the risks of coverage among users and non-users alike, i.e. social insurance. Health insurance was intended to cover all, no matter what there circumstances of birth, so that all had equal access to medical care, no matter what their circumstances. It should not be restricted to those who can afford to pay for it. That is not what a civilized society is all about. In a civilized society, everyone is taken care of. Germany and Japan and Canada and all the other industrialized countries work with the social-insurance model and have universal health care for everyone, at a lower cost than the average cost of health care in the U.S., and their citizens are healthier (Putsch and Pololi; Sered and Fernandopulle). The U.S. is in the lower half of health outcomes on comparative international rankings, ranking 12th out of 13 countries for 16 available health indicators. It ranks 6th from the bottom of 29 countries in infant mortality rate among members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Of these countries, only the U.S., Mexico and Turkey lack universal health coverage. No one has to worry about making a choice between food and medical care in countries which do have universal medical care. No one has to suffer because they can't afford to go to a doctor or a dentists to have their problems taken care of. No one has to die because they cannot afford appropriate medical care.
Private insurance in America has gotten out of control. It is for the rich. The reason there are so many people without medical insurance - 43 million or more at last count - is not, as Bush likes to say, because they choose not to have it: it's because they can't afford it (Putsch and Pololi). As medical costs have soared in recent years, companies have cut back on how much they will contribute to employee's health plans, and employee's are finding it harder and harder to make up the diff...