What’s true for Powerball is true for other areas of life, like health care

If you’re like me, you wait until the jackpot gets really big before you ever buy a lottery ticket.

Sure, the weekly prize of a few million dollars would build quite a nest egg, but that’s not enough to get most of us in the game. Instead, we wait for the “fever” to build. And when it does, the payout dollars jump exponentially for each cast of the ping-pong balls.

Some players are more faithful. No matter what the prize, they’ll be there twice (or more) each week to buy their tickets. They’re the backbone of the system. And while they mostly grumble about the slew of newbies holding up the line, they also delight in knowing that the jackpot is leaping — and they’re “due.”

The lottery is a great testament to the power of numbers. As more and more contribute, the pot grows faster and faster, and the burden to each individual player is decreased.

The same principles are at work throughout our lives. For example, we share cell phone calling plans, eat meals family-style, and pool our money for one great Father’s Day gift (instead of half a dozen coffee mugs and ties).

A couple of big news items last week also demonstrate these economies of scale:

First, it was the town of Culpeper smartly taking the right steps to apply for state and federal grant money to buy and resell a few foreclosed homes in the neighborhoods littered with them. And while some of these bank-owned properties would sell on their own, the town will be in the market for the houses where the banks are willing to eat more of a loss.

(If you want it spelled out, that likely means the ones that have been vandalized and/or stripped for parts.)

Once they’ve put the houses back in working order, they’ll introduce eligible homebuyers, which would include most teachers and law enforcement officers in our community, to reputable lenders and a neighborhood will have increased its pool of contributing members. That’s good news for association duespayers (who probably saw nothing from their old neighbors on their way out) because it adds value to their own homes and adds to their quality of life. I can personally attest to the negative impact an empty house with an ever-growing lawn can have on a neighbor’s psyche.

So no matter your initial reaction to learning of the program, the underlying principle holds: Neighborhoods are made stronger when foreclosed properties are replaced with homeowners who have a stake in their upkeep and the community. The pool gets bigger, and the burden on every other homeowner on the block gets smaller.

The second story where this applies is the national debate over health care. It feels like we’ve been through this before, back in the early ’90s, when we were led to believe the system was fine and there was no reason to risk our own health care just to cover some faceless others.

A lot has changed in 15 years.

Every year our health insurance premiums go up. Is it because doctors are driving nicer cars or tort cases are spiking?

Hardly.

The main reason our insurance premiums are up this year is because we’re dropping people from our shared purchasing pool. For each business that goes under, or worker who’s laid off, that leaves fewer of us to share the costs. As the numbers spike, the burden on each employer rises, and so some small businesses are forced to drop the benefit. Which, in turn, leads to a yet smaller pool.

It’s like watching the water run out of the bathtub; at first you don’t notice, but when it gets low enough, you see a powerful vortex pulling it down the drain.

Think what you will about universal health coverage. Certainly there are some social aims and responsibilities to be met, but even if you believe the best system is one in which everyone is on their own, we’re all paying a higher price because more of our nation’s health care is being delivered outside of the pool.

The natural market forces continue to pull down and need a jolt. Without one, next year will certainly mean higher premiums or less coverage for most of us.

No matter what the subject, be it foreclosed homes or cell phones,  we have two choices: We can either build our numbers and take advantage of the economies of scale, or we can continue to get pinched. If we do nothing, our only hope may be hitting those lottery numbers.

Clements’ column runs every Monday on the editorial page.