Logic Should Be Mandatory

So, I was reading this article today about why people were (or weren't) voting, and this one woman said something that frankly convinced me that we do need the Electoral College to protect us from ourselves. A young woman from Chicago said that she thought health insurance should be mandatory. Okay, that's maybe a strong way to word it, but yes, everyone should have health insurance.

But here's where it falls apart. Her line of reasoning was that if having auto insurance was mandatory, then having health insurance should also be mandatory.

A couple of reasons this makes no sense...


1. Having a car...not mandatory. Being alive sort of is.

2. How do we enforce this and what is the penalty? If you're caught driving without insurance, you pay a fine and/or lose your license. If you're caught living without health insurance, should we kill you?

3. Most people who don't have health insurance don't have it because they can't afford it and are spending the money they have on other things. Like food. I guess if health insurance is made mandatory and people have to do without food to get it, then they'll have the best of care when they show up at the emergency room suffering from starvation.

Okay, I am a rational person, and I know what this girl was trying to say was that everyone should have health insurance, not necessarily that everyone should have to buy it and maintain it and there should be penalties for being without it. But the way she worded it, she came out looking a wee bit stupid. Although this is compounded by the fact that she is in her 20s and said her dad helped her fill out the form. I don't know about other states, but in Illinois, you pretty much have to know your name, address, date of birth, phone number and social secutiry number. If you need your dad to help you with that, then I don't want you to do anything that might somehow affect me. Like voting.