{"content":[{"text":"35","bbox":{"left":0.898245,"top":0.056603,"width":0.02148300000000003,"height":0.019317}},{"text":"remain in New York, but it sent me a letter, \n explaining that because of this new law, my \n monthly rate would be increased from $120 \n to $300. \n If this is only a little increase, I wonder what \n our politicians think a big increase would be? \n We now have a level playing field: No one \n can afford health coverage. This monthly \n bill is certainly beyond my means, and I am \n sure it is beyond the means of most middle- \n class people as well. \n And since the law forbids insurance com- \n panies to refuse anyone, there is no longer \n an incentive to buy health insurance in \n advance of an illness. Since a 25-year-old \n woman in perfect health would pay the same \n as a 68-year-old man with serious cancer \n problems, the 25-year-old might as well \n wait as long as possible before buying the \n insurance. \n Without a pool of healthy customers pay- \n ing the cost for the sick customers, the \n whole concept of insurance becomes un- \n profitable. This is why more than half the \n insurance companies have left the state, and \n why eventually, because of this law, private \n health insurance will sooner or later become \n unavailable in New York. \n Good and Bad Consequences \n We supposedly live in a free, capitalistic \n society, which used to recognize that life is \n tough, challenging, and requires thought \n and courage to get through it with success. \n Some of us are more intelligent, more hand- \n some, or more beautiful, while others are \n cursed with ugliness, stupidity, or foolish- \n ness. Often we make poor decisions that do \n us more harm than good. And, regardless of \n any law, there are always good and bad \n consequences for all our actions. \n Yet, we are also afforded the wonderful \n opportunity to make the most of what we \n have, regardless of life’s obstacles, to never \n give up, to make of our lives as much as we","bbox":{"left":0.077121,"top":0.089409,"width":0.414785,"height":0.772337}},{"text":"can. Even in the most adverse situations, \n where the world is trying to destroy us, we \n can still stand tall and proud and try to do \n right for ourselves and for our loved ones. \n This approach to life will at least make us \n noble and great, even amidst failure. \n By recognizing and rewarding the indi- \n vidual differences among us, a free society \n encourages us all to be the best we can be. \n It encourages us to use our individual talents \n and abilities at their highest level, because \n we know that if we choose poorly or without \n thought we will have to face the bad conse- \n quences on our own. \n The thinking and philosophy that sup- \n ports this insurance law in New York denies \n this premise. By making believe that every- \n one is identical and requiring the insurance \n companies to ignore the good and bad dif- \n ferences between us, the law only encour- \n ages laziness, foolishness, and failure by \n everyone. If you have the foresight to buy \n health insurance before you really need it, \n you are punished with higher rates. Those \n who don’t plan ahead and buy it in the last \n second are rewarded with bargain rates. \n Worst of all, because this law attacks the \n truth that we are all different with different \n situations, trying to do the best we can, it \n attacks the foundation of our €ice society. \n Without any incentive to be the best we can \n be, the consequences will surely be the same \n he- as they were in the Soviet Union and in \n all socialist countries. Health w e , once \n easily available at reasonable prices in New \n York State, will soon become less accessi- \n ble and more poorly administered. \n This is not a prediction, for I have already \n observed these very things happening in \n New York since the law was passed. In \n trying to eliminate the small, bad conse- \n quences of certain individuals’ foolish deci- \n sions, the New York State legislature has \n created a situation where a truly large and \n terrible consequence will descend upon the \n heads of all its citizens. 0","bbox":{"left":0.511568,"top":0.089277,"width":0.41433200000000003,"height":0.7749110000000001}},{"text":"LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG \n ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED","bbox":{"left":0.272066,"top":0.961456,"width":0.4546700000000001,"height":0.03436300000000003}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}