(2005-02-07) Kling Health Insurance Odds

Arnold Kling on the nature of risk and Health Insurance. Insurance is possible when there are unpredictable expenses, not when there are predictable expenses. Again, there are plenty of ways that our society can arrange for other people to pay for your predictable expenses, but those arrangements are "split the check" or "pass the buck." They are not insurance... The unicorn that economists would call health insurance would focus on insurable events. Each type of event might be covered by different forms of insurance.

He suggests government Catastrophic Re Insurance.