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This becomes perfectly obvious when we consider the different products that are wrapped up in Health Insurance in America.
If I wanted similar coverage for my car, I would need all of Car Insurance, a Warranty, and a prepaid Service plan. All are available on the market for most cars, all can be priced out, but they are different products completely. Comp Car Insurance makes sure that if I get into an accident, I won't be left without a car, but does not cover mechanical failures or ordinary wear and tear. A warranty makes sure that if my car breaks down, it will be fixed, but doesn't cover ordinary wear items. A Service plan allows me to bring my car into the dealer for regular service for wear items, fluids, etc, but doesn't cover those other things. Health insurance, by comparison, covers all three situations at the same time. It is true insurance, in that if I have an accident, it will cover my medical costs. It is a warranty, in that if I suffer from a genetic condition it will cover me. And it is a service plan, in that it covers my regular expected doctor's visits. But I expect to make the same payment for all three, and it is not clear how to distinguish among them.
This is what's attractive about those health ministry things that (ironically) aren't allowed to be called "health insurance". Some of them are more like "really big surprise medical bill from casualty events" insurance, and those are way more affordable. They have a high deductible for that and cover nothing else.
Does it mean you have to pay out of pocket for checkups and other routine stuff? Yes. Do you shop around sometime for competitively priced MRIs? Yes. Do you find yourself traveling a bit for providers? Yes. Are you looking for coupons on goodrx.com for prescription meds? Yes. Are your (family) premiums $5,000/year instead of $24,000/year? Absolutely.
If you have a warranty condition, that's on you to cover. Which, you know, is expensive. But so is covering everyone else's when you don't.
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It sounds weirdly blasphemous when you put it like that. “We take responsibility for this product not being delivered in useable condition.” I wonder if your warranty should be issued by the Church…
I guess the warrant is for your body, with your mind/soul is the intended owner, but that raises all sorts of philosophical questions.
Except that it covers your mind, assuming coverage would also include psych/mental health stuff, which it reasonably should inasmuch as we're not going full Szasz-pilled. The blasphemy disappears inasmuch as you stop thinking of a warranty as coming from the manufacturer, and moreso assuring the consumer a roughly median experience.
The more concerning part to me is that warranties always restrict uses. Your factory warranty on your car won't pay out for damage that results from racing. Your consumer warranty on your washer-dryer set won't pay out if you open a laundromat.
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Interestingly, the Knights of Columbus looked into offering health insurance for its members but couldn't find a good enough loophole on paying for abortifacients. This has been told to me personally by high ranking members and I'm really not sure what the relevant law(well, I guess section of the ACA) was, but that is how the Church would offer a warranty on genetic conditions, at least in the US.
I've always been curious: would refusal to pay for birth control or plan B etc actually make the plan cheaper, or more expensive?
For a single man, almost certainly cheaper. For a family, the major confound is that the knights of Columbus would expel a member who admitted to using birth control. Even if there's probably some cheating, a KofC healthplan would be covering lots of childbirths anyways.
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