It's not the same thing at all.

One of the arguments from those who support requiring everyone to have health insurance is that it's the same thing as requiring car insurance. No, it's not.

Car insurance is required if you want to drive your vehicle on public streets and highways. If you don't, you don't have to buy it. The requirement is conditional -- if you don't drive, you don't have to buy it. Health insurance would not be predicated upon a specific circumstance. Everybody would have to buy it (see clarification below).

The car insurance you are required to have is not for your protection -- it is for the protection of others. No one is required by law to buy collision insurance. What is required is liability. That's to protect the other driver. Health insurance is like a requirement to buy collision insurance.

Ah but -- clarification is needed on the "everyone has to have it" rule. If you can't afford it, you don't have to buy it. That means all the rest of us will be paying for insurance for somebody else. Maybe somebody who can afford a big-screen TV, a nice car, the latest cell-phone, etc. It's all about priorities. And how will we be paying for their insurance? With "a variety of new taxes and fees on businesses and some families" according to the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Max Baucus says the fees and taxes are "an essential element of his bill to expand coverage."

"Panel eases insurance penalties." The Dallas Morning News; October 2, 2009; p. 5A.