> I see forced purchases of insurance for people with nothing to insure as similar to debtor's prison
That's probably because you're looking at it entirely wrong.
The third-party cover in insurance is not for you (the driver), it's for the poor sod that you turn into a pavement stain.
If you kill them, their family has had someone taken away from them - would you be happy with $50K for the loss of a spouse?
If you don't kill them, but inflict life-changing injuries, the resulting lifetime healthcare costs could easily be more than $50K.
When you take to the road, you do incur some risk, but on average you pose more of a risk to others, particularly if you've chosen to drive a car that you can't see in front of properly.
The UK introduced compulsory third-party cover in 1988. Even back then, the cap was £250,000 - it's not led to any societal problems (although, the accident rate in the UK is far, far lower than in the US so policies probably are going to be cheaper).
I do agree, though, that 10 mil is definitely pushing it a bit far.
>> would you be happy with $50K for the loss of a spouse?
If that was an issue for me, I would make sure that I had the appropriate level of insurance for that event, rather than relying on the hope that some random driver on the streets where I live would have the appropriate level of insurance. Many of the drivers where I live have no license, the cars they are driving aren't registered, and they have no insurance.
That's a law enforcement issue (they don't enforce laws here either), not an civil one. The insurance thing is my responsibility.
That's probably because you're looking at it entirely wrong.
The third-party cover in insurance is not for you (the driver), it's for the poor sod that you turn into a pavement stain.
If you kill them, their family has had someone taken away from them - would you be happy with $50K for the loss of a spouse?
If you don't kill them, but inflict life-changing injuries, the resulting lifetime healthcare costs could easily be more than $50K.
When you take to the road, you do incur some risk, but on average you pose more of a risk to others, particularly if you've chosen to drive a car that you can't see in front of properly.
The UK introduced compulsory third-party cover in 1988. Even back then, the cap was £250,000 - it's not led to any societal problems (although, the accident rate in the UK is far, far lower than in the US so policies probably are going to be cheaper).
I do agree, though, that 10 mil is definitely pushing it a bit far.