Healthcare coverage is more like a service contract than it is insurance

[jmowreader]

The right wing has said healthcare coverage isn't like other forms of insurance. They said if your car insurance covered oil changes, oil changes would cost $500 each (or some other outrageous number) and there'd be a deductible.

A wiser man might say, if the insurance company was paying for oil changes wouldn't they buy their oil by the truckload, force the car companies to all use the same oil filter, and work out a way to change oil in five minutes so these oil changes wouldn't be very expensive? Of course they would! And then it hit me: health insurance does two things: fixes health problems its customers have, and gives them preventive care so they are less likely to have health problems. That's not what insurance does, but it's what a service contract on your car or a big machine does. It's cheaper for the service contract company to change your oil than your engine, just as it's cheaper for your health provider to give you a physical and a discounted membership to a gym than it is to bring you back after your heart attack.

So next time one of those dumbasses starts ranting about healthcare not being insurance, tell them they're right--it's a service contract on you.