What are people supposed to do if they get seriously ill?

[daredelvis]

And what the Democrats have done isn't going to work as promised.

Cite please.

Since when has any legislation lived up to this litmus test.

I broke a patella (knee-cap) when I was without health insurance. I had surgery at Harbor-UCLA hospital, and I wasn't required to pay for anything. The Los Angeles County hospital works on an "ability to pay" system, and I had very low income at that time.

Yes, our current inefficient socialist system. It makes more sense to give you the opportunity and obligate you (through tax penalties) to purchase insurance.


Daredelvis

 

[The Mutha]

What makes you think that she has government health care?

Are you serious? Congressfolk get free health care for being sworn in - for life, unless they get kicked out for cause. Also, her husband is a Navy pilot/Astronaut, so he'd be covered under the Navy's health care and probably they'd be one of those lucky couples who are doubly covered (her on his insurance as well as him on her insurance). Chances are they don't have any out of pocket expense for any medical care.

 

[bencg]

So much for the progress of civilization. So if someone gets lung cancer, treatable if caught early but fatal if not treated at all, and they can't afford the treatment themselves they are just supposed to suffer and die? That's preferable to pooling resources from the larger society?

Yes, its for your own good. It does no-one any good to live on handouts etc. Besides its your own fault for not being successful/having bad genes/bad luck/no rich daddy. Besides we all die eventually so whats the problem?


Now as it happens I have an unmarried sister... as a spouse of a UK citizen you would be entitled to NHS care

 

[thaiboxerken]

Given that UHC works well in every other modern country in the world, I can only think that the Right is against it because they are fooled into believing that the free-market can do everything better.

 

[bencg]

Anyway, my point is, universal health care isn't a fairy godmother. It's resources transferred from one thing to another. And resources are limited. If people get seriously ill, they're supposed to suffer and die. The only real debate at this point is what counts as "seriously ill", and how much resources we're each entitled to along the way.

Are you serious? I suppose cancer isn't really "seriously ill", and well if it is its just too dam expensive to treat poor people right?

Besides, it isn't a zero sum game. You do need to reform the system though, the US spends far far too much on far far too little in healthcare. You are enriching insurance companies and drug companies at the cost of your societies general health and welfare.

Why can the UK deliver universal healthcare for less than the per capita cost that the US spends on just medicare + medicaid? This is nuts, and unless there is some inexplicable reason that means americans will always be incompetent at running a healthcare system there must be a way of providing UHC for less money then you are aleady spending just in your taxes on medicare/medicaid.

 

[Darth Rotor]

In response to the OP:

Back in the day, the answer was "die"

Nowadays, some folks get another option.


My question to you is: what makes you think that "not die" is a right?

If it is a right, why did my grandfather die of pneumonia in 1938 and my father in law die of pneumonia in 2010?

 

[Puppycow]

or enlist in the military, and receive free health care.

You have to be healthy to enlist in the military.

 

[thaiboxerken]

If people get seriously ill, they're supposed to suffer and die.

Thank you for summing up the Republican Health Care Plan.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Thank you for summing up the Republican Health Care Plan.

And Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest.

Who knew that the Republicans were Darwinians?

 

[johnny karate]

My question to you is: what makes you think that "not die" is a right?

If it is a right, why did my grandfather die of pneumonia in 1938 and my father in law die of pneumonia in 2010?

Did they die due to lack of access to healthcare? If not, then the question has no bearing on this discussion.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Did they die due to lack of access to healthcare? If not, then the question has no bearing on this discussion.

They BOTH had access to healthcare, smart boy.

 

[johnny karate]

And Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest.

Yeah, except what we're trying to do here is called "civilization" not Thunderdome.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Yeah, except what we're trying to do here is called "civilization" not Thunderdome.

Edited by kmortis: 

Removed personal attacks

 

[johnny karate]

They BOTH had access to healthcare, smart boy.

Then your question has no bearing on this discussion.

No one has a right to "not die", but in a civilized society people should certainly have access to life-saving medical treatment.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Then your question has not bearing on this discussion.

No one has a right to "not die", but in a civilized society people should certainly have access to life-saving medical treatment.

I thank you for yet another worthless platitude. Go mow the lawn. It would be a better use of your time than keeping up with the stupid.

 

[johnny karate]

So is it your opinion people shouldn't have access to life-saving healthcare and should be left to the whims of Darwin's law?

And for the record: I wasn't offering a platitude. I was stating a position. If you disagree with that position, please make your argument.

 

[thaiboxerken]

And Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest.

Who knew that the Republicans were Darwinians?

They've always been Social Darwinists. It's the free market approach to life.

 

[Meadmaker]

No. Actually I was turned down for a job recently because they didn't want me on their health insurance program. Otherwise I was qualified.

If you could prove that, you would have a winning lawsuit on your hands.

However, it happens all the time, and the people it happens to can't prove it, and everyone knows it. It's the most ridiculous thing about insurance in America, that it is so tightly wrapped up in employment that people lose jobs because employers don't want to pay for health care and/or insurance.

I probably would have been enthused about Obamacare if only the plan had weakened the connections between employment and health insurance. Instead, it strengthened them, at least in some ways.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Isn't it against the law to ask a person's medical history on their applications and interviews?

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I probably would have been enthused about Obamacare if only the plan had weakened the connections between employment and health insurance. Instead, it strengthened them, at least in some ways.

Amen to that.

It also strengthened overall the idea that insurance is how we do healthcare in the U.S.