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didn’t he! Wow, $100′s at 8 years old. That was big! I can’t imagine parents letting their kids loose at that age today, but I’m glad you got to enjoy the ‘good ole days’ in Atlanta and a trip down memory lane.

In the early ’70s, I’d rather have made the three block walk from my shop in Underground Atlanta to the bank without my pants on than without the pistol tucked in my belt. You’d have some chance of making it with no pants, none with no gun. You literally walked up to the guard at the door, handed him your gun, did your business, and got your gun back on the way out.

Even in the Atlanta area, I see ads for gun shows and shops all the time. It’s a beautiful sight, really.

For letting us know. I’m a-following you now!

Neptune. Right outside Asbury Park.

into your comment or diary. But some embeds work better here than others, YouTube being one, as is Vimeo. Fox News embeds are kinda hit and miss.

You don’t dig out of the hole of too much government by digging deeper with more government.

You need to look deeper than the superficial issues. The core problem is that costs are too high. Consider why costs are too high. You see it’s because of gold plated insurance and government subsidy.

Are you willing to send men with guns to people’s homes to round them up if they don’t obey your dictate? Really?

is that if you cannot afford (or choose not to carry) car insurance, you can get rid of your car.

How are you going to apply the same principle to health insurance?

Car insurance is mandated only because you can drive your car into other people, houses, other cars, etc. If you don’t have liablity insurance, it is likely that you wouldn’t be able to pay for the damage you inflict. Most states only require liability, issuers of credit normally require collision, etc.

In other words, we are talking about apples and oranges here.

Here’s the main problem with your post, in comparing Car Insurance to Health insurance.
You say that those without accidents pay for those with. Actually…. If you rear ended me, your car insurance rates would skyrocket. Mine would not change. (Happened to me last October. Was hit by a guy with a suspended license). If the person that hit me still wanted to drive, his insurance would be astronomical. As in… He would pay for the mistakes he made. With health insurance, that connection is eliminated by the government already. Insurance companies are not permitted to charge you more based on your lifestyle. They can only choose not to cover you. Imagine a health insurance company charging someone that smokes, is obese, and has a family history of heart disease $10k per month for coverage, and then charging someone without any of those problems $100 per month. Would never happen. Especially not if the government was forcing people to have that insurance regardless of the rates.
On top of all of that. Driving isn’t a right. It’s a privledge.

1. Car insurance, unlike health insurance in most states, is determined by a number of factors which determine how much you are deemed a risk.

2. Car Insurance , unlike health insurance in most states, offers different levels of coverage. If you own your car outright, you have the option of purchasing liability insurance as opposed to full coverage.

In other words, car insurance (at least in my understanding) is offered at rates that reflect actual market forces, where as health insurance is sold at artificially depressed or (more often probably) inflated prices do to accessive regulations and things like community rating. And, as billyd pointed out, those who cause accidents pay higher premiums and 1. help cover the cost and 2. have an incentive to not cause accidents.

You ask what if an uninsured young person gets really sick? we can’t not treat them? This problem is very easily solved and is NOT THE REAL REASON THEY WANT TO ADD AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE.

3 simple ways to solve this:

1. Send them a bill and require that it be paid.
2. Get rid of community ratings systems that require young and healthy people to pay ridiculous rates for health insurance
3. Get out of the way of inexpensive high deductible plans so people can actually purchase a level of insurance coverage that is appropriate to their situation.

None of these options are considered because they want to force people to participate in socialized medicine. Plain and simple.

I choose not to carry health insurance anymore and I assure you it’s NOT because I’m thinking the government would take care of me if I got really sick. It’s not even because I can’t afford it. It’s because the only insurance policies offered to me are extremely overpriced and only allowed me access to (at best) mediocre doctors. I stopped buying health insurance for the same reason people don’t buy most product. It’s price (in NYC) far exceeds its value.

( and that’s even including the value of appeasing my mom who sometimes freaks out about me not having insurance)

It simply isn’t worth it to me to spend $4-$5,000 a year just on the remote chance I’ll get really sick. I’m healthy. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, I work out 5 times a week….I’m not that worried and besides I just shouldn’t have to pay that much. I choose not to participate in the de facto socialism we call “community ratings” because I just think they’re flat out wrong.

Cypress isn’t a friendly crowd. She shouldn’t try coming down here to Texas in the first place.