Sarah Kelly

Paying For Others’ Insurance: The Unfairness Recently, U.S citizens have been debating about the new health care act called American Health Care Act (AHCA), which is planned to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare. As I was reading news about it, a comment intrigued me. One reasoned his support of AHCA that if someone couldn’t afford their health insurance, he shouldn’t expect others to pay for him because it wasn’t fair. The comment was pointing to the amendment that AHCA will not fund the Medicaid the way ACA did, leading to the possibility of about 11 million people losing their affordable health insurance. Not until I saw that comment had I thought about the fairness of neither of the Acts. Where is the fairness here? In brief, not only that AHCA eliminates individual mandates which have contributed to covering essential health benefits for the low-income people, but it also cuts down on budgets that spend on Medicaid for the poor. Since the government spends people’s mandates and taxes paying for the Medicaid, it sounds like we are paying for insurance of people who can’t afford it. It is not fair because we are paying more for the same amount of benefit. I guess that idea was the essence of the fairness mentioned in that reader’s comment. In a simplified situation where fairness doesn’t take contextual factors into consideration, I would agree with him. However, it’s impossible to cut down contextual factors when arguing fairness in a specific case like this. First of all, fairness here refers to benefits that people receive from government. Those who think that it is unfair because they have to pay more than the low-income individuals do but receive the same benefits mostly look at things from a balance of trade-off. What they also need to consider is why they pay the government. The ultimate mission of government, whether excluding ruling, is ensuring the safety and benefits of its citizens, for which you pay the government. Providing the poor with Medicaid is one way the government fulfills its mission, by securing an environment, a society that is beneficial for everyone, including you. Thus, better insurance for the low-income individuals means a better society in general. You get your fair share in that regard. Second of all, also involving building a favourable society, the only way we can achieve a more supportive, nurturing, and advancing society is helping others. Nobody has never needed help in their lives. By helping people and being helped in return, you are needed, helpful, valuable, and constitute a better world for yourself. How a person’s value can be measured if it’s not by his contribution? Lastly, do you know besides a better society, what else do you get from paying for others’ insurance? A reward from nature and evolution, as doing good things has been shown by research to even benefit at the DNA level, enhancing your genes. In conclusion, if fairness is about the balance of giving and receiving, it is, indeed, unfair. You receive a lot more than what your money can pay for, a better living environment, better self-values, and better DNA for the next generation. Remember what little Anne Frank wrote in her diary? “No one has ever become poor by giving.”