Hacker News Reader

Comment by s1artibartfast | Hacker News Reader

It isnt the choice that I would make, but what other people do with their money is their own business, and the science may prove useful.

However, those that call for state funded animal insurance, or mandates truly strike me as unhinged.

View on HN

>However, those that call for state funded animal insurance, or mandates truly strike me as unhinged.

I've never heard of such a thing, and a quick Google search didn't find anything -- is this a real movement, or something you heard from someone you know?

The closest I could find was a movement to support the right to have pets in apartments and/or public housing.

It is a "real thing" in that I see people advocate for it fairly often on social media, and more rarely HN.

It isn't a real thing in that I haven't heard of any actual politicians advocating for it in the US. However, I just learned that mandatory pet

This [1] and this [2[, were top non-sponsored results when I google searched "manditory pet insurance".

I also noticed that Spain has introduced mandatory registration, liability insurance, and training classes for all dog owners in the country.

https://dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/2023/02/15/great-debate-shou...

https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/iohxzf/cmv_pe...

Liability insurance is not medical insurance.

indeed, as I am aware. thats why I used the word liability instead just saying insurance.

Judging by the history of the /r/changemyview poster, they were probably high when they wrote that. I'd hate to see the concept rejected outright based on that user's representation of it and the similarly uneducated discussion that followed.

I volunteer with a cat rescue and was recently involved in a situation where a little girl had to give up her cats because her single father couldn't afford their vet bills, leading to one devastated child and two more homeless cats. It was one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. I can see how mandating pet health insurance might bring down the cost of it to the point that less privileged people would be able to have and keep their pets. Never heard of the idea before but it sounds great to me.

I don't know exactly what to say because I think I have polar opposite views of you. I think mandated pet insurance is more likely to increase the cost of owning a pet for everyone, and more likely to see that father in trouble with the law for violating it.

That's without going into any of the economic and personal rights problems with making unaffiliated people pay for the care of other people's pets.

Yikes! Who knew this was a thing...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com