You cannot drive a system that's going to be aiming at preventing illness if everyone is not in it. The whole gaming of health insurance and health care in America is based on that fundamental principle: insure people who aren't sick and you don't have to pay more money on them.
Age is getting to know all the ways the world turns so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want you can at least get out of the way so you won't get run over.