The legislators and doctors who have promoted this legislation seem to think they have the power to repeal the laws of economics, but they do not.  Requiring insurance policies to include these features is like requiring every new car that is sold to include a sun roof and a satellite radio.  They are nice features, but adding them would increase the cost of the car, which would price many people out of the market, and even those people who could afford those features might be far better off spending their money on something else.  Similarly, requiring the addition of these features to health insurance policies will increase the cost of health insurance, pricing more people out of the market, and even those who can afford the increased coverage will be prevented from spending their money on other things that might be more effective at increasing their lifespan or bringing them more happiness.  There is no free lunch.

For example, if a family breadwinner postpones buying a safer car or postpones making repairs to his existing car because he was forced to spend his money on additional health insurance features and then dies in a crash which he otherwise would have survived or avoided, it will be of little consolation to his family that his health insurance covered screenings for colon cancer and mental health.  In another case, a person suffering from a disease that is likely to kill him in a couple of years might be far better off spending his money taking a nice vacation but will be denied that happiness, thanks to this law.  In still another situation, an overweight person might be better off spending his money on nutrition counseling and exercise classes, but that money will be gone, thanks to the do-gooder legislators and doctors. 

Not only are these doctors and legislators extremely arrogant to think they know how people they have never met should spend their money to maximize their own happiness, but by using the force of law to impose their preferences on these people, they are doing great harm by preventing them from making the choices that would best serve their own needs.  Do they really believe that graduating from medical school or getting more votes than their opponent makes them all-knowing and able to craft a one-size-fits-all health insurance policy that will be better than the individualized choices that people would make for themselves?  If so, then they are not nearly as smart as they think they are!

This is yet another example of what happens when people want the good feelings that come from helping others without actually having to pay the price – seeking to feel good on the cheap.  Unfortunately, since the harm they are causing is largely invisible, they are able to continue their destructive behaviors and often are even cheered on in their pursuits by other “useful idiots” who do not recognize what really is happening.    

If the doctors and legislators really wanted to do good rather than just feel good, they would operate on a voluntary basis, which would increase people’s choices and opportunities, rather than on a force basis, which limits choices and opportunities.  For example, they could establish private charities that would help provide mental health services and colon cancer screenings at low cost.  They could donate their time and money and encourage donations from others.  That is how health care often has been provided in the past, from the March of Dimes, which was an entirely private charity established to fight polio, to many hospitals and clinics sponsored by churches and other charitable organizations.  Engaging in such real efforts is not as glamorous as passing a law that pretends to solve all the problems with a single stroke of the pen, but it has the benefit of actually doing real good instead of doing harm.

The people who like to impose their will on others by force like to think they have the moral high ground, but quite the opposite is true.  They are human parasites, getting their good feelings at other people’s expense, and they should not be allowed to continue to feel good while causing such harm.  It is time to pull the gauzy, good-feelings curtain aside and look at the reality.  If people really want to do good, then they need to stop trying to impose their will by force, start respecting the life, liberty and property of others, and roll up their sleeves and get to work.