Slate’s Amanda Marcotte boasts that ObamaCare is already providing benefits for younger people, which in Marcotte’s view is good because it will help Obama with the youth vote in the upcoming election. According to Marcotte, the percentage of uninsured young adults declined between 2010 and 2011, the main reason being ObamaCare. So let’s see, she’s boasting about increasing coverage for young people, who, by virtue of their youth, are generally healthy and unlikely to need healthcare. Not really much to boast about.

Marcotte also adores the access to contraception that ObamaCare mandates (of course, she’s not talking about actual access, which nobody is trying to block, but is repeating the Sandra Fluke demand that others pay for her contraception). Contrary to liberal under-standing, contraceptive expense isn’t even appropriate for insurance in the first place; as others have pointed out, it’s the equivalent of including a free oil change every year as part of an auto insurance policy.

We should understand that insurance properly covers major, unpredictable, catastrophic expenses, not small and routine ones. When we buy insurance, we contribute to a fund out of which those who need it will receive payment. But receiving payment means that bad things have happened, so we shouldn’t want to take money out. When we pay for insurance, we’re purchasing peace of mind. The idea of requiring health plans to cover contraceptive expenses is another example of liberals’ failure to understand most things economic.