The Dumb Ass Argument Against Mandating Health Insurance: Guns and Broccoli…and the simple answer back.

We’ve all heard the analogies and arguments against mandating insurance to cover medical costs. Not everyone has a car, so mandating insurance only applies to people with cars, not those who never buy one. Or this silly example:

Fox News: A group of South Dakota lawmakers has introduced a bill that would require almost everyone in their state to buy a gun once they turn 21. Turns out it's not a serious attempt. Rather, the lawmakers are trying to make a point about the new health care law -- that an individual mandate is unconstitutional, whether it requires everyone to buy health insurance or, in South Dakota's case, a firearm. 

Rep. Hal Wick, one of five co-sponsors, told The Argus Leader: "Do I or the other co-sponsors believe that the state of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not. But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance?"   

The Answer: Not everyone will ever need or want to own a gun, or car in other comparisons. You can’t point to one person who hasn't or won’t need health care sometime in their life. If they use it, they must pay for it. In fact, we first used our health care system when we were born. We will certainly use it again at the end of life. Many, if not all of us, will use it sometime in between. Vaccinations? 

It’s not something we will never use. We all have health, good or bad, and will need those care services someday. You can freeload and make me pay for you when you finally need it, or you can be responsible.

Health care isn’t a gun that you have the option to buy, or in the case of South Dakota, would be required to have. We can live without guns. We can't live without our health. Or it’s not like Florida Judge Roger Vinson’s comparison to broccoli:

"Congress could require that people buy and consume broccoli at regular intervals," Vinson writes, because "people who eat healthier tend to be healthier, and are thus more productive and put less of a strain on the health care system."

But we don’t need or have to eat broccoli, ever.

We all need our health, and we will all need health care.