A health care follow up

Let me second David’s call for a streamlined health care system; having spent a year on a COBRA program (at something like $500 a month, IIRC), I can attest to the annoying cost/hassle of keeping insurance up to date.

But certain things about the health care debate drive me absolutely nuts, like the self-entitlement you encounter day in and day out when you pay attention to the issue. Take this guy, for example. Allow me to summarize: He’s attending a top tier law school, so he doesn’t have a job and can’t afford to pick any health insurance up. He also has asthma. Which leads to this relatively stunning paragraph:

I cannot get my proper medication and have to rely on a friend who’s mother  is a pharmacist to steal sample sized daily inhalers for me.  Not only is this embarrassing and unreliable, it costs all of you who do have insurance money.  I have no choice.

“I have no choice.” Wow. There is a stunning lack of self-awareness in that thought. So what you’re telling me is that you decided to attend a law school that you knew you couldn’t afford while simultaneously paying for health insurance even though you had a relatively serious health impairment that you need to get medication for? I’m sorry, dude: You made your choice. Maybe you made it poorly, but you made a choice. I have no pity whatsoever for this guy.

This story over at Ezra’s is a little greyer. It’s grey because it’s unclear why she wasn’t covered. If she wasn’t covered because of a preexisting condition, maybe it’s the fault of the insurance regime. But if she just chose not to purchase coverage because it was too expensive, and then decided to do something inherently risky like ride horses? Not too much pity from me.