Insurance Doesn't Always Have to be a Government Program

The story of Vic Chesnutt, a singer-songwriter who died in December, has been circulating on the internet. He had been in a coma for some time, the cause of which is uncertain, but is rumored to be the result of a suicide attempt. He struggled with depression much of his life, partly due to a car accident that made him a paraplegic at a young age.

Chesnutt was also facing $70,000 in medical bills, and some groups have picked him up as a poster child for Americans who die because of a lack of health insurance.

"Insurance" is simply a mechanism for sharing costs and risks across a group of people - it doesn't require a complicated corporation or government program. Chesnutt was a minor celebrity - was he really unable (or unwilling) to raise $70,000 from other, willing Americans? Americans are proving themselves to be generous - look at all the millions flowing into Haiti every day.

In his acceptance speech in Grant Park last year, President Obama said "we know that government cant solve every problem" and "let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other."

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Obama used his State of the Union address to tell Americans not to wait for government to solve their problems...to tell Americans that sometimes people don't die from lack of health insurance - they sometimes die from lack of a community where people reach out and help each other - directly, with no government program telling them they must.

I'm sure Obama can find other words, but "my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" would be a good sentiment right now.