Why men don’t care about the health care debate

Article here. Excerpt:

'With another Affordable Care Act open-enrollment period in the rearview mirror, policymakers remain mystified as to why men lag behind when it comes to obtaining health insurance. And young men sometimes catch the blame for high insurance rates, since this relatively healthy segment of the population tends not to buy coverage.

There is no mystery. Women receive substantial gender-based services that personalize health insurance for them and that provide strong incentives to buy coverage. But under the ACA, there are no gender-based services for men and no incentives to buy health insurance other than fines and penalties, which are designed to punish men for not participating in a program that fails to provide for their basic needs.

The economic benefits of preventive health care are well-known. Screening for various conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sexually transmitted infections, and some cancers, along with regular medical checkups, have improved and lengthened the lives of millions of Americans. And it keeps people whose conditions are caught early from getting sicker.'