Gambling With Other People's Money

Some of the strongest opposition to the Affordable Care Act is coming form those who will pay a penalty for not having health insurance. These are not our poorest citizens who have no ability to purchase coverage. Instead, those who may be accessed a penalty are individuals and families who could, but choose not to, purchase health care coverage. Many of this vocal group are relatively young ( in their late twenties through their thirties ). Their choice to not be insurance is a gamble. The odds are that younger citizens have fewer causes to need insurance. So even through the birth of children, some are gambling with the odds. However, they are gambling with other people's money. On a personal note, my wife, Linda , and I have recently become grandparents to triplet grandsons. With the multiple pregnancy over a 30 week period there were extra doctor visits, extra tests, and extra monitoring. The last three weeks before their birth our daughter-in-law was hospitalized. When the boys were born nine weeks early they were put into the natal intensive care unit. It has now been five weeks and they remain in the hospital. All is going well, but I am extremely thankful that this family did not gamble on the odds that their health was good and any pregnancy would be uneventful. I can not even guess at what the ultimate hospital cost will be for mother and babies. But, I do know that if they were not insured, and were forced to declare bankruptcy, we would all be paying. Their gamble would have been with other people's money.