If anyone still wonders why health insurance is far more expensive than auto or homeowner’s insurance, here’s a simple explanation:

IF CAR INSURANCE WAS LIKE CONTEMPORARY HEALTH INSURANCE

• Employers would provide auto insurance as a benefit in lieu of higher wages
• Employers would either be self-insured or pay whatever rates they could negotiation with third party auto insurance companies, guaranteeing outrageous prices because “that is what the market will bear.”
• A run through the diagnostics and an oil change would be covered, but, like an annual exam and Pap smear, would be priced at $250.  You could only have one oil change a year; if you needed more, you’d pay $250 out of pocket, unless you had the Federal Employees Auto Insurance Benefits, in which case you could have an oil change every week, subsidized by the taxpayers.
• Like dental coverage, your car would be eligible for professional detailing twice a year, at participating detailers.
• Like optical coverage, your car could get a new set of headlights and taillights every year, whether or not it needed them. Or, better yet, a new set of tires every year.
• Like pharmaceuticals, you’d have a $10 co-pay for a tank of regular gas, $20 for midrange gas and $35 for premium, but that tank would have to last a month.  Your Auto Fuel Benefit Manager, however, would be arguing with the oil companies who would be charging $200, $500, or $5000^*per tank to cover their “R&D” costs, which would be half of their marketing and advertising budget.
• If you were self-employed, unemployed, or lost your coverage because of “downsizing” or illness, you’d have to pay $250 for that oil change, a minimum $200/month for a tank of gas, or walk to work.
• If you were poor, you might qualify for Car-aid, but few gas stations or repair shops would accept your coverage and those that did would look down on you as a low-life draining the system, even though all you want to do is get to work and buy food without walking 16 miles in a blizzard, up hill, both ways.
• When you reached 62 or 65, you’d qualify for Car-care, which would cover repair and maintenance at the same rate, whether you owned an Escalade or a Prius.  Your repair shop would be prohibited from providing any extra or discretionary work on your car, even if you could afford it, and be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.
• However, since you no longer had Auto Fuel coverage, you’d be back to paying $200 for a tank of gas, unless you had Car-care Gap Coverage, hawked by Mr. Bluewrench, dressed in knit coveralls, standing by the waiting room in a homey garage “for only $9.99 a month and you CAN’T be rejected.”