Social Insurance 0
Jim Henley considers health insurance as “social insurance.” The whole think is worth a look; I’ve omitted all but his definition of “social insurance” and his conclusion:
(snip)
There are perfectly coherent ideological arguments against social insurance. If you believe all taxation is theft, that government is illegitimate, social insurance is a form of taxation, and a crime. If you believe that what’s good about “the American system of free enterprise” is that fear of catastrophe keeps people in line, then social insurance undermines social cohesion, and that’s bad. If you believe that “people make their own luck,” or that fortune is a sign of divine favor and misfortune the judgment of the Almighty, then social insurance rewards the undeserving. I don’t find these arguments compelling any more, but they exist and are viable positions.
There are also incoherent arguments against social insurance, the chief of which is the notion that any version of it must somehow be worse than the bizarre patchwork of subsidies, regulations, entry barriers and backstops that we have now. But these are arguments against doing social insurance, not refutations of the concept.
