I’d be happy to! I know some people are confused. OK: the Affordable Care Act (also known as ACA and Obamacare, occasionally as Romneycare) includes what’s called an “individual mandate.” It requires everyone* to buy a health insurance policy. (*Unless your religion expressly prohibits it - specifically, the Amish and some Muslims.) People claim that the mandate is unconstitutional, because the Constitution doesn’t grant the government to power to force people to buy something. It doesn’t forbid it either, but you know, whatever. Conservatives love pretending the Constitution is an untouchable infallible creed handed to the Founding Fathers by Jesus himself, and totally isn’t an archaic 300-year-old document that didn’t give any rights to women or non-white people, and that we’ve already amended a whole bunch of times for other reasons.

ANYWAYS. Yes, in most states, you have to buy car insurance. Their argument is that you don’t HAVE to drive or own a car, so it’s totally different. I don’t think it’s very different. When everyone has to buy a policy, companies fight to offer the lowest-priced one, or one with unique options. Think of the car insurance commercials you see. Geico and Progressive and esurance offer low-ish prices and well-rounded insurance packages. Companies like Freeway and Titan offer bare-bones policies at rock-bottom prices. Companies like Allstate and State Farm are more expensive, but offer better perks and a higher level of care. As a California resident, I had to buy a car insurance policy, but I looked at tons of different options and picked the one that suited both my budget and my needs as a driver.

I haven’t had a ticket or accident in the past few years, so I’ve been paying into my company and not getting anything back. Evil socialism, right? But when somebody backed into my car a week after I bought it (and had it insured), the company picked up the tab to repair it. It’s almost like, if you have a big group of people paying an equal amount into a pool, then some people can take out money when they need it, and none of the people in the group have to go without car repairs because they can’t afford it. MAGIC.