Compulsory Insurance without Paternalism

Paul Bou-Habib

Utilitas, 2006, vol. 18, issue 3, 243-263

Abstract: This article examines how a just society must address the needs of its imprudent members. I defend compulsory insurance as an answer to this question. It has been assumed that compulsory insurance can only be justified on paternalistic grounds. I argue that this assumption is incorrect, and defend non-paternalistic compulsory insurance (NPCI). To display the merits of NPCI, I identify a trilemma that arises for views about how to address the needs of the imprudent, including libertarian and so-called ‘luck-egalitarian’ views. I then suggest that NPCI enables us to escape the trilemma.

Date: 2006
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