A doctor explains why

This was at Glorfindel of Gondolin: Medical Archives, written by a young doctor who seems to have a lot of debt from school and a good sense of humor. Here's part of a post he wrote about HSAs, from a couple years ago:

I've decided that as a healthy young person, I resent the elderly and the sick. They're the reason health insurance costs so much! If those people with diabetes, cancer, and other chronic diseases would take responsibility for their own health, instead of relying on the same insurance that I have to pay their medical bills, I wouldn't have to pay so much for my health insurance! Their presence in the same insurance risk pool as me is unfair.

In fact, I'm fed up with the whole concept of health insurance. It's really just a cross-subsidization of the sick by the healthy, and in America we shouldn't have to tolerate these collectivist wealth-transfers. So I'm gonna get myself an HSA!

They're a great way for people like me to stop subsidizing the old and the sick with my hard-earned money. If I go out and buy some health insurance with a really high deductible--more than $1000--then I can go to the bank and open an HSA. I can contribute $2600 or the amount of my deductible, whichever is less, every year to my HSA tax-free! The money rolls over each year, and I can withdraw it to pay for medical bills without any tax liability. That way, if I ever sprain my ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee, I can use the money in my HSA to pay the bills. But the best part is, I won't be in the same insurance risk pool with all those costly old and sick people anymore! They're not going to go for a plan with such a high deductible--it would cost them way too much, seeing as how they're always going to see their doctors for med refills and chronic pain.

Now, I know that when I drop my regular insurance plan and get an HSA instead, I'll be driving up the price of the old plan. But I don't really care. This is America, and if the old and the sick can't afford their insurance premiums, that shouldn't have anything to do with me.