# Is it legal to force people to buy healthcare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461 "2008-02-06T01:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461/21 "2008-02-06T20:04:03Z")
> [@Ninjachick](#): > > But because I’m not a citizen nor was I settled there (by Immigration standards) I didn’t benefit from the NHS. If I got sick I would’ve had to pay full price to see a doctor; if I’d needed to go to the emergency room, I would’ve been billed full price for it. Unless the UK has dramatically changed its NHS rules in the last few years, I think you were misinformed. We used NHS in London in the late 1990s – were were visitors, there for only a few days when Mrs Haven fell and broke her ankle. We didn’t have to pay tuppence for the medical treatment, and we weren’t even UK taxpayers. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461/22 "2008-02-06T20:08:12Z")
Auto insurance is to prevent you from costing another. You can be sued otherwise. And prohibbitted from driving. Without health insurance, many people (without resources) might be using the emergency room. An emergency room heart attack visit could run in the tens of thousands. Sure…the hospital can sue later…good luck. Plus I doubt the hospital can prohibbit emergency room visits from someone who owes them money. And you can prohibbit someone from getting sick. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461/23 "2008-02-06T20:10:39Z")
Sorry, you can’t prohibit someone from getting sick. Or prohibit them from living…as you can do a public automobile driver. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461/24 "2008-02-06T20:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] It’s not really the same thing. You must have auto insurance if you use public roads. You can drive around your own property as much as you want without insurance. Furthermore, usually the only form of auto insurance you are mandated to purchase is liability insurance. That is, you must be insured to ensure that if you cause harm to other people they will be compensated. Health insurance is for your own good, not for the good of others. Even with the auto insurance mandate, uninsured rates are around 15%, which is roughly the rate of people without health insurance. [/QUOTE] And more importantly, it isn’t the federal government requiring it. It is the state. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461/25 "2008-02-06T21:41:36Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] Unless the UK has dramatically changed its NHS rules in the last few years, I think you were misinformed. We used NHS in London in the late 1990s – were were visitors, there for only a few days when Mrs Haven fell and broke her ankle. We didn’t have to pay tuppence for the medical treatment, and we weren’t even UK taxpayers. [/QUOTE] Huh, apparently I was misinformed. Emergency room care is not charged for. ([cite](http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19890306_en_1.htm)), but most everything else would be if you’re an overseas visitor. So I imagine the initial ER visit to take care of the busted ankle was free, but if you were there for longer and she continued to have pain, you would have had to pay had you seen a doctor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-force-people-to-buy-healthcare/436461.md?page=1)