LogFAQs > #934704121

StealThisSheen posted...

"Somebody might abuse it so nobody should have it" is still the dumbest argument that always comes up for pretty much everything.

Its not someone might abuse it. Its a ton of people will abuse it, raising costs for everyone.

Heres a similar example. I dont know if Bernies everything is covered includes this (I hope not!), but lets say it included coverage for alternative medicine. Theres nothing to discourage this; its free! Say that, because of this, 10% of spending ends up going to shit that doesnt work. This benefits nobody; in fact, it hurts people because theyre putting off real treatment. And everybody pays more because of it! The same can occur even for procedures/meds with some merit when theyre being used at the wrong time (common example: a patient demands antibiotics for a viral infection).

Now if you have copays/deductibles, theres incentive not to do this. And on average, everybody is now paying less because it cuts down on unnecessary spending. And Im not saying that copays/deductibles need to be nearly as large as they are now, or that they cant, e.g., scale with income or something. They serve an actual purpose in helping to correctly align incentives.

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