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With congressional votes looming, `invincibles,' or healthy young adults who choose to go without medical insurance, might soon have to pay for insurance whether they want it or not.
By JAMES H. BURNETT III
[email protected]
Guy Lilavois is ``invincible.''
He's not a superhero -- just healthy, happy and voluntarily uninsured.
``I haven't needed it,'' says Lilavois, a 35-year-old, call-center manager from Miramar who dropped his medical insurance plan five years ago. ``I lead a healthy lifestyle. I eat a proper diet. I use herbal remedies. And I haven't been sick -- not so much as a flu -- for years. So why would I spend money on an insurance plan that I'm not using? It's not cost-effective.''
Agree or disagree with Lilavois' strategy, healthcare-policy experts and even the politicians debating reform measures have taken notice of the so-called ``invincibles,'' people in their late teens to mid-30s who choose to be uninsured because they're convinced that their relative youth and/or healthy lifestyles make an insurance-free life worth the gamble.
That gamble has become a crucial point in the debate over healthcare reform and how to pay for it, as the proposals in Congress would mandate that everyone buy insurance or face steep penalties. Supporters of mandatory coverage, including President Barack Obama, say it's a key step in making insurance affordable for everyone.
Originally posted by SyphonX
I've told people all about this.
People seem to have rose colored glasses and they think our Universal Health Care plan is a plan that like Europe and Canada where the govt. essentially just takes care of you, free of charge.
It isn't. Why is everyone so god damn ignorant of this? It's a Pay or Be Fined system..
FFS, I can't take it anymore. The ignorant dimwits of this country deserve everything they ask for.
Originally posted by wdkirk
The US of A is not a Democracy. We are a Republic.
en.wikipedia.org...
Originally posted by Kaploink
How is forcing healthy young adults to buy health insurance any different that the school property tax which those property owners without children still have to pay? In fact, most of us without children are paying school taxes so those young adults with children can send their kids to public school. Yet, I don't see any of them complaining about that.
This really reeks of people who don't want to contribute when they don't directly benefit at the current time. Wait about ten years when they start complaining about how high their premiums are due to the lack of healthy young people getting insurance.