What is your sense of moral hazard, and the idea that sharing the cost of care (insurance deductibles and co-payments) off-sets its impact? Asked another way, do you believe that insurance leads to excessive use of healthcare services and contributes to the growth of total expenditures for care? How do you support your opinion?

Sharing the cost of care is good when it is properly utilized. It is good because it protects individuals without strong financial muscle. However, where a lot of people are involved, there is bound to be several individuals with hidden motives whose sole aim is to exploit the goodwill of the others. This is how moral hazard comes into play. Malicious individuals can abuse the trust bestowed on them by the body responsible for the medical cover.

I believe that insurance leads to excessive use of healthcare services in many situations. Human beings have been given a sense of intuition. They are able to tell when the symptoms they experience are potentially risky, and when they are likely to go away. However, there is a tendency to visit the hospital for treatment of conditions that would have been perfectly eliminated by home remedies. This increases the cost of healthcare for everyone covered in the insurance program this individual is using. Despite that, there is a risk where people generally tend not to take precautions when it comes to contracting certain diseases since they know they are covered by insurance.