Post Hoc, Ergo Obamacare?

This image has become pretty popular and is making its way around Facebook.

It’s funny.

The problem, of course, is that it suffers from the fallacy of “post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” A quick google search revealed that, to no surprise, premiums have been rising for many years (at least according to Kaiser/HRET).

While it’s true the Affordable Care Act will likely lead premiums to rise, it’s by no means the only variable.

Also, she might consider calling her health insurance provider about the rate increase, since the health care provider likely won’t know the answer. I may be reading too much into her tweet, but either way, part of the problem with the debate over the ACA is conflating insurance coverage with actual service. The two are of course, very different things.

Birth Control and Insurance Mandates

What are Undead political issues that should go away once and for all?

Once again birth control and insurance mandates were in the news this week. The GOP-controlled Missouri senate just passed a bill allowing an exemption from the requirement to offer contraception in employer-provided insurance plans. This was apparently in response to the federal “guidelines” issued a few weeks ago requiring that employers provide contraception.

RadioActive hosts Scott Parks and Dana Wright were debating the issue in predictable fashion; the former arguing employers ought to be free to choose, while the latter suggested that such a choice was an abridgment of women’s rights. Neither one ever considered the one solution to the whole mess that both ensures women freedom to access contraception and allows employers who are morally opposed a way out: getting the government out entirely.

If individuals were free to purchase health insurance policies and deduct premiums the same as businesses do now, then the whole matter would be solved. It’s only because the government intervened to begin with that such a dilemma exists.

My opinion of insurance is that it ought to be used to cover things that are actually insurable (crazy, I know), such as car accidents, cancer, etc. It shouldn’t cover routine or predictable items such as wellness visits or birth control. Regardless of what is and is not covered, it’s an issue solely for the insured and the insurance company to determine, not an employer, and certainly not the government.

And now that’s finally behind us, let’s move on to a subject that actually matters, say the endless wars, the growing police state, the continued devaluation of our currency….