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Originally Posted by AGDee
If they are permanently disabled, they sure do. Once that insurance runs out, they're being treated and living on our dimes. Also, you can bet that our insurance rates go up if there are too many very expensive claims.
I am in favor of the law because I think it would also be unethical to let a human being die because their insurance wouldn't cover their injury and the government wouldn't pay the bills either. Hospitals shouldn't have to absorb any more free care than they already do (the health system I work for absorbs $100 million in free care every year). Hospitals have to treat life endangering injuries whether a person is insured or not and whether they get paid or not.
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OK - makes sense . . . I guess I completely disagree with the insurance part, but don't know enough about the gov't assitance portion to do anything other than defer to you.
As far as insurance - motorcycle helmet laws probably do very little to affect your rates, and using your personal rate as a reason for creation of this kind of law really doesn't make sense to me (that whole 'constitution' thing). Either way, if it's a big deal, then insurance companies can 'play the market' and lower rates to people who don't ride motorcycles in exchange for not covering motorcycle accidents, etc . . . the free market should take care of this, not laws that restrict personal liberties (however stupid) to try to save a nebulous amount of money.
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Originally Posted by AGDee
I had a friend in Oklahoma who was an orthopedic surgeon who rode his damn motorcycle without a helmet all the time and finally crashed. He was in a coma for weeks and will never practice medicine (or hold any job) again. I will always wonder how an orthopedic surgeon could have been so dumb.
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What if, instead of 'dumb', we think of it as a 'calculated risk' . . . if the person's risk of catastrophic injury is less than the enjoyment gained by riding without a helmet, isn't that the antithesis of dumb?
I don't ride at all, and I would probably wear a helmet regardless, but why the derision for those who choose not to? They're adults . . . it's not like this is some endemic problem, either; it's relatively niche compared to other social health issues.
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