Let’s say you own a house with no fire insurance. One night, the house burns to the ground. The next day, you buy a fire insurance policy which has a pre-existing condition: The house no longer exists. The insurance company has accumulated no premiums from you, but accepting your policy would require the company to buy you a new house. This isn’t insurance; it’s welfare.
Now let’s say you have a medical condition that requires on-going care. You buy a medical insurance policy. The insurance company has accumulated no premiums regarding your condition. If it’s required to accept the pre-condition, it must raise the premiums of all of its policy-holders to cover the cost.
Politicians observe that the benefit to you is obvious and substantial, while the extra premium costs spread among all the other policy-holders are hidden and small. They therefore require the insurance company to accept the pre-existing health condition.
Multiply this government requirement by thousands of others that incur costs which are hidden and small to cover the costs of people not expected to cover their own costs. All those hidden costs add up, especially since an army of bureaucrats are hired for administration.
And people wonder why the cost of living is so arduous.
