Medical and healthcare insurance companies originally came into being as a way of financing increasingly more expensive healthcare options. However insurance companies be they medical insurance, health insurance, car insurance, home insurance or any other insurance are in the business to make money. They make money by calculating the income they can charge and the costs they will incur by offering the service. If the income is higher than the cost then they are happy to extend coverage and if the income is significantly higher than the cost they spend money marketing to you so as to make sure you buy the service. Truthfully the more profit for them the less you need them.

So what kind of people are medical and healthcare insurance companies looking for? The more of the following items that apply to you the more they want YOU.

1. You know that time tested home remedies such as lemon and honey have been shown to be just as effective at curing a bad cold as everything sold at the local pharmacy
2. You believe in preventive care which isn't covered instead of reactive care which is.
3. You don't watch a lot of TV so you haven't been convinced by the major pharmaceutical companies that the solution to your healthcare problems comes in the form of a pill.
4. You are not a hypochondriac.
5. You are 18-35 and healthy.
6. You exercise regularly.
7. You are not overweight.
8. You don't smoke.
9. You have a "living will" that prohibits invasive procedures, aggressive treatment and resuscitation as you near death.
10. You haven't figured out how profitable a customer you are

If you believe that medicine and healthcare are products to be bought and sold, then the existence of companies such as insurance companies that try to select who buys and sells this product is logical. However if you believe that like education, medicine and healthcare are universal rights to be obtained based on need and not affordability then the mere existence of medical insurance companies is a moral outrage.

To see what a society that believes medicine and healthcare are products to be bought and sold looks like you can travel to pretty much any third world country and look around. Those who buy medical care can afford to, those that cannot afford to buy it don't!