I just watched a Fox segment about <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Motocross”>Freestyle Motorcross</a> that featured interviews with riders talking about how many bones they’ve broken and blood transfusions and concussions they’ve had, and it left me wondering who pays for that? When people do crazy jumps and jackass stuff that winds them in the hospital, are they treated just like people who were just doing normal non-thrill-seeking stuff, like riding a motorcycle without trying to jump over anything?
When you fall on your bike, insurance should cover the elbow x-ray, but I wouldn’t expect it to cover any costs if the guy is caught on camera trying to jump over a giant sand dune.
Do they have to pay extra?
Please share widely!
When the issue is harm to others, “ultrahazardous” activities results in strict liability (i.e., the injured party need not prove negligence in order to recover), and is therefore presumably more expensive to insure. Yet, as far as I know, health insurance, which is concerned with injuries to oneself, does not have anything comparable. If you break your leg, you’re covered, regardless of whether it was in a car accident or because you were trying to, as you say, jump over a giant sand dune. One could reasonably question whether that makes sense.
In the big picture, though, I doubt that this kind of thing contributes significantly to the cost problem. An individual suffering a few extra broken bones doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing that is driving health care costs through the roof.
How big a problem would it have to be for it to contribute to driving costs through the roof? I think it’s much more widespread today than it was back in Evil Knievel’s day. When I was growing up we fell off our bikes now and then, but we weren’t trying to jump over giant obstacles on ramps and doing a loop at the same time.
it’s not obvious to me that snowboarding qualifies as an “extreme sport.” I mean, if you’re going over 50-foot jumps, maybe. But that’s true of almost any sport; furthermore, it’s not like serious injuries don’t happen in “traditional sports” like football. The devil’s in the details, I guess.
that is starting to win over many, including the health insurance industry. If they can gouge people for money they will, but I expect that the savings won’t go to you dont-get-cute, they’ll be taken up as profits.
Before you know it, kids won’t be able to ride regular bicycles because the risk of injury is just all to real, it’s costing all of us more money and it’s costing the insurance companies profits. After all, why should I pay for all that health care when my son doesn’t even ride a bike.
This is heading us down a very dangerous path.
This is the comment that I posted that disappeared. What happened? Where did it go and why did it suddenly just show up?
For some reason your comments got sucked into the spam filter. I’ve pried them free, and hopefully this will not happen again.
i just posted a comment here and it disappeared. did it go to moderation or did I do something wrong.
Something must’ve happened when you tried to post. Go ahead and repost the comment.
because this one came up immediately, Well I hit submit so I just don’t know what happened.
in summary, I think the question is a terrible one, and the reason why is forever hidden in the missing comment.
We should all be allowed to do whatever we want to do, and never have to pay for any consequences or face any moral judgement or social penalties.
to try convince you, apparently a perfect, wise, non-sinning, careful, protected individual who works overtime trying to find ways to limit other peoples freedom, that you have no clue what freedom means to some people.
You are right on task doing the moral judging and trying with great effort to apply social penalties. By the way, don’t you think people should wear helmets all the time? I mean, it’s totally irresponsible to walk around every day and think that a slip and fall could not happen to them. I really don’t want to pay for that. I mean, it’s not fair. I think it should be helmets for all people who walk. And if they run they should be arrested.
and most people aren’t perfect. Most people don’t wear helmets all the time, they ride bikes, they drink alcohol, they do recreational activities and sports, that’s all it takes to be moral. At the same time, most people don’t do extremely risky things, knowingly putting their health at great risk, specifically because it is more risky and extreme than what most people would do. “Extreme” is synonymous with “Immoral”
You show how ridiculous your own position is when you resort to portraying my position in a ridiculous extreme:
So, you apparently think we have the following choice: Either we require everyone to wear helmets and arrest people who run, or we have to allow everyone to do anything we they want to, and we’ll pay for their medical care no questions asked. See, it’s stuff like this that makes me think this is a Koch Brothers funded Libertarian subterfuge blog. Don’t think the Koch Brothers won’t get richer if we guarantee health care to every body, and then encourage them all buy motorcycles and fireworks and alcohol.
If you ever give a speech or anything, please post it on youtube and share.