Forced to Cover Pregnancy

Another conservative rant because they lose their freedom!  Mr. Gundy misses a few things in his analysis of how medical insurance covering pregnancy is an infringement on freedom:

1.  The United States ranks in the high 20s in so far as infant mortality.  Many women in the United States have babies without anything, at home, with mid-wives or less.  And babies and women die.   You are free to die like a dog in America.

2.  I know, if it is the same Mr. Gundy, that his employer has some of the best insurance on the planet.  Many things are covered.  Co-pays are low.  So, the "burden" that he assumed when his wife was pregnant is far less than others who purchase insurance.   He made up for paying for the birth by having great insurance for everything else.

3.  If it is the same Mr. Gundy, he has NO even passing knowledge of how insurance works.  Risk is shared  with insurance, which drives down individual premiums.  The more insurance that has a pregnancy rider, the more the risk is shared, the lower the individual premium cost.  Mr. Gundy misses this.  By having all insurance cover insurance, we drive down the cost for those who need it.  Simple insurance principles!

4.  The reason 30 million uninsured drive up insurance costs, is because they have to go to the emergency room for treatment, where in some cases they have their babies.  The cost of having a baby has been driven up, precisely because we have not shared the risk on a broader base, and the excess cost is passed along to all medical procedures and costs.

5.  In the season of Christ's birthday, we get yet another plea for "freedom", that had me, me, me all over it.  If I can do it so can you, was almost chanted in Mr. Gundy's piece.  What he misses of course, is that over 30 years ago, when he was graced with a child, that birth cost over 100% less than it does today.  But, this is the land of me, of mine, of screw you....so let the children be born anywhere; like a manger maybe?