Michael Cannon makes the convincing case that the answer is a resounding ‘no’.
Those who say that private health insurance companies are evil entities that profit from denying health care to patients fail to appreciate that private health insurance companies are in fact a wondrous force for good.
Outrageous? Not at all. Health insurance companies get complete strangers to pay each other’s medical bills voluntarily.
The customers who enroll in any given health insurance plan speak different languages, practice different religions and might even hate each other if they met. Yet health insurance companies induce them to put all that aside and help complete strangers when they are sick, vulnerable and afraid. Without threats or penalties, insurance companies get people to contribute to insurance pools even though, for most enrollees, most of the money they contribute will go toward covering the bills of strangers who end up needing medical care.
While private health insurers are far from perfect, private health insurance plans ability to pool risk, and enable the funding of innovative treatments to help patients recover their health is something to be celebrated, not demonized. While there are lots of areas where private health insurance could improve, calling them evil is not only counterproductive, but a false statement.
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