Silly Me

caterpillarcowboy:

This doesn’t happen already? Aren’t African-Americans more at risk for heart disease? Don’t older people have higher premiums than younger people?

This is a key example. African Americans are at higher risk for heart disease but are not, to my knowledge, charged higher premiums. Older people are generally charged higher premiums by private health insurance companies, but when they turn 65 their premiums are magically subsidized by the government.

So we’ve decided to socialize risk associated with race, gender and sexual orientation but not age. I used the term “protected class” at one point because it was easy short-hand for what’s going on. But the analogy is clearly imperfect.

Cite Arrow reblogged from caterpillarcowboy
53 notes | | Nov 9, 2009
  1. sds reblogged this from jeffmiller
  2. tylerhwillis reblogged this from mikehudack and added:
    basically boil down...choice in my book....man or woman,...
  3. krystalgomez reblogged this from winstonwolfe and added:
    Agreed. And I’ve always wondered about the haircut thing. Isn’t there a way to achieve the stated goal more effectively?...
  4. mikehudack reblogged this from caterpillarcowboy and added:
    This is a key example. African Americans...heart disease but are not, to my knowledge,...
  5. mikehudack reblogged this from winstonwolfe and added:
    I’m not a fan of the slippery slope argument. Jeff: what I’m saying is that certain risk premiums for protected classes...
  6. caterpillarcowboy reblogged this from winstonwolfe and added:
    This doesn’t happen already? Aren’t African-Americans more at risk for heart disease? Don’t older people have higher...
  7. winstonwolfe reblogged this from jeffmiller and added:
    So will it be okay if the government decides to charge African-American men/women more than Caucasian men/women? What if...
  8. jeffmiller reblogged this from mikehudack and added:
    Mike … if women are being charged more for health insurance premiums, it isn’t because they are women. It’s because the...
  9. mikehudack reblogged this from jeffmiller and added:
    The reality is that there are cost differentials on a number of variables. It’s socially acceptable to pass some of...