AAA Michigan says don't repeal mandatory helmet law

[2WheelerFred]

AAA Michigan says don't repeal mandatory helmet law
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
These proposals will result in increased motorcycle fatalities and injuries and higher ... Tackle the big things and let the rest of us live our lives. ...

Do the link thingy : http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/118837944.html

[kriscook]

Read it.  So tell me this:  If I elect not to wear a helmet and I crash and get hurt really badly, I go to the hospital and my health insurance pays the cost.  What my insurance does not pay, the hospital bills me for.   If I stay disabled and have to have long term care, I pay for that.  Why should I not be allowed to ride without a helmet?  (not that I ever would.)

Now.  If I have no insurance, and I ride without a helmet, and I crash and get hurt really badly, I go to the hospital and they treat me regardless of whether I have insurance or not.  I get out of the hospital and have a huge bill that it will probably take me the rest of my life to pay.  How does that cost society?  How do other people pay for my injury?  If I am long-term disabled as a result of the injury,  I will file for SS disability, which admittedly will cost the system, but I have paid into that system since I started working, just like everybody else.

I'm just not sure how this hurts insurance companies, when they always structure their premiums to cover their risks. 

And a word about insurance companies:  They make insane amounts of money, and always have their own best interests at heart.

Please help me understand. 

[2WheelerFred]

You need to read your tag receipt a little closer Kris, we all pay a hospital tax this largely goes to fund public hospitals and for indigent care. So lets ay you have that wreck without insurance you are are in a coma or paralyzed you lose your job eat through all your savings etc. The hospital can not throw you out or if all of that is true they can not even deny you treatment if they are the closest medical facillity. The money for all of this comes from hospital taxes. Which you and I and everyone else here pay, so in essense you are depending on us. While I despise the insurance industry, they provide a necessary service by providing their policy holders coverage and stock holders a ROI. The way it is supposed to work is that the preamiums are pooled to be able to pay for high cost services and claims, so that the burden is shared by all, but lately it seems that stock holders are coming ahead of paying claims. Home owners insurance has gone through the roof (no pun intended) for coastal residents who live X miles from the coast here in Mobile and Baldwin counties, companies say it is because of our exposure to hurricanes, yet the past two yers have been relatively quiet with no storms hitting anywhere along the northern gulf of mexico. The insurance companies are still collecting their money. I know you understand all of this but I wanted everyone to see how complex the issue is and I just really scratched the surface.

[kriscook]

So if you say anyone who wants to ride without a helmet has to have proof of carrying certain limits on his insurance coverage, then you are in essence creating the necessity for motorcycle-only checkpoints for non-helmeted riders.  So how did the non-helmet states ever manage to get that way?