That's because the notion of insurance is wrong. People need healthcare coverage, not insurance.
We are all connected in this stupid country - if the family down the street can't afford preventative care, and the wife gets sick, and can't take care of the kids, and the husband misses work and gets fired from his job, and then they can't afford good nutritious food for their kids, so the kids go to school hungry and don't learn as well and don't test as well, the ripples can last for generations.
Here's the thing. People act as if healthcare is something that has to be earned, and deserved, and not only is this viewpoint inhumane (in the Greatest Nation in the World!), but it's economically indefensible.
If people don't get early medical care, their lifetime economic output can be greatly reduced. And their children are affected. If children aren't taken care of with nutrition and care, their mental abilities, abilities to stay in school, are affected -- and their lifetime economic output is reduced. And targeted poverty (as opposed to where everyone's poor) breeds crime. Which creates greater loss of human economic potential AND greater costs for the government.
The country benefits from more, healthier workers, who can think straight, and don't spend significant portions of their time figuring out how to scrape by. These people can then spend money. Middle- and lower-middle-class people spend far more of their income than higher income brackets, if only they have the money to spend.
Net effect: The benefits to the entire country outweigh the costs, in a system where costs aren't an arms race between health insurance providers, malpractice insurers, and other for-profit companies.
We are all connected in this stupid country - if the family down the street can't afford preventative care, and the wife gets sick, and can't take care of the kids, and the husband misses work and gets fired from his job, and then they can't afford good nutritious food for their kids, so the kids go to school hungry and don't learn as well and don't test as well, the ripples can last for generations.
Here's the thing. People act as if healthcare is something that has to be earned, and deserved, and not only is this viewpoint inhumane (in the Greatest Nation in the World!), but it's economically indefensible.
If people don't get early medical care, their lifetime economic output can be greatly reduced. And their children are affected. If children aren't taken care of with nutrition and care, their mental abilities, abilities to stay in school, are affected -- and their lifetime economic output is reduced. And targeted poverty (as opposed to where everyone's poor) breeds crime. Which creates greater loss of human economic potential AND greater costs for the government.
The country benefits from more, healthier workers, who can think straight, and don't spend significant portions of their time figuring out how to scrape by. These people can then spend money. Middle- and lower-middle-class people spend far more of their income than higher income brackets, if only they have the money to spend.
Net effect: The benefits to the entire country outweigh the costs, in a system where costs aren't an arms race between health insurance providers, malpractice insurers, and other for-profit companies.
A stitch in time saves nine.