Friday, June 21, 2013

On Obamacare



We were repeatedly told that approximately 45 million Americans lacked access to health insurance.

We were then led to believe that given the choice (and a subsidy), these uninsured Americans would certainly choose to be covered by insurance. 

So my question is this: if, come January 1, 2014, an overwhelming majority hasn’t signed up for coverage – especially when coverage is federally mandated, can we conclude that we were misled?  I mean if folks were itching to get health insurance, surely the overwhelming majority of those uninsured will rush to sign up for health insurance, right?

I bet less than 50% sign up during the first 12 months.  Am I way off?

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Wanna lose some weight?



Government’s obsessive behavior towards our access to insurance has resulted in many an unpleasant intervention.  Think Obamacare.  How about a free-market approach using incentives.

Should airlines be allowed to charge customers based on weight?  (let’s assume that they are given immunity from lawsuits)  If not weight, then BMI or some other proxy for size.

Delivery costs for packages delivered by UPS, FedEx, and USPS are determined by weight, so why not allow airlines to reward skinny folks.  If the airline wants to charge me $50 extra because my bag tips in at 51 lbs. why can’t that same airline reward me for weighing less (often much less!) than the average passenger.

I’d wager that the result of this change of business practice would not be insignificant.