Again, I agree with Marilyn.
Especially this part:
“there has to be some intermediate position between the attitude that we should give everybody everything and the attitude that you don’t deserve it if you can’t afford it.”

So true.

It’s sad and cruel to assume that people who can’t afford important things (like health care) just aren’t spending their money wisely or (even worse) aren’t “working hard enough”.
I’ve always taken issue with the assumption that poor people are poor because they (1) don’t work, (2) don’t work hard enough, or (3) don’t WANT to work hard enough. There are plenty of poor people that work very hard every day, and still don’t have enough to make ends meet. It’s not because they’re wasting it. They are doing everything they can to provide for themselves and their families. Yet, with the cost of health care and insurance these days, sometimes it’s simply too far out of reach. That’s unacceptable. That needs to change.

The title of this post left a bad taste in my mouth. “The Right To Give”…. when it seems instead the idea is that people shouldn’t be “given” anything they can’t pay for.

I still adore you, Whall, really I do. (No, really!)
I love your sense of humor (in non-political mode), and your DITL’s always make me smile. You seem like a nice guy who I would probably like even more if I stalked (er, I mean, if I met you in person in a safe, well-lit place, with plenty of witnesses…).

But this is why I don’t generally comment on your political posts.
We’re just such extreme opposites in that regard, and I found myself cringing while reading your comment on Britt’s site.

Matt´s last blog post.."I’m From the US Government, and I’m Here to Help"

The problem with UHC is that, in the end, nothing will change. The rich will be taxed even more to help support the program, the “poor” will still be getting free health care, groceries, rent and day care for their non-job and the middle class will still make too much money to qualify for the program.

I’m starting to feel like I’m living in a country that is trying it’s hardest to create A Brave New World.

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I remember when affordable HMO’s were all the rage. My mom suffered a concussion by hitting her head on the pointed edge of a cabinet. She was vomitting and had severe dizziness.

Her primary doctor wouldn’t approve a trip to the ER. She said it wasn’t necessary. That’s because it would’ve cost the primary doctor if she had gone.

I had similar experiences with battling for approval of visits and procedures when I had an HMO. I almost lost my fertility to endometriosis because the doctors I had didn’t want to have to pull money out of their pot to do the necessary diagnostic surgery for it.

By the time I had regular insurance, and thus had the surgery I needed, the endometriosis was all over and had almost completely taken away my ability to have children.

I don’t want the government involved in my medical decisions, and that’s bound to happen if they start paying for my care.

Evil Genius (or everyone, for that matter), I think I just had an epiphany and have decided that I do support universal/national *preventative* healthcare. I’m not sure why this never occurred to me before, and I’m not sure it really helps as it doesn’t do much good to find out your sick if you don’t have insurance to cover the illness.

Obviously, this doesn’t help with the issues I’ve been most concerned about — how to deal with expensive treatments, particularly long-term treatments. But maybe it would avoid the “emergency room as a clinic” issue, which I often hear being blamed as part of the high cost of healthcare.

Ren… I don’t know the details of how that lady’s kids got stuck with the bill, but I’m assuming it was what you said. Let’s see… tax expert, inheritance guru, Mac user… And to think I read papers and books to learn stuff.

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It’s a far from perfect solution, but this problem is so complex and involves so many different industries/entities that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with reform. Sigh.

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I doubt there is any solution to you scenario short of finding a cure (and even that probably isn’t a complete solution as it wouldn’t likely reverse the damage that’s already been done). In this way, it isn’t dissimilar to the situation with terminal cases of cancer.

The fact that there is any treatment at all, expensive as it is, is a big part of the reason that health care costs have skyrocketed. I do not know what to do about this because restricting expensive treatments to those who can afford it certainly doesn’t seem like a system we want. Socializing this type of treatment might be the right thing to do, but that only works as long as the ailments treated thusly are fairly rare in the population.

I suspect a bit of patent reform to prevent pharmaceutical companies from keeping drugs expensive longer than they should (particularly if developed with government funding), would help somewhat. Additionally, I expect we could use some legislation to protect patients from situations were they are prescribed the new, more expensive version of a drug when there is a cheaper, though perhaps slightly less effective drug available. If Drug A is 80% effective at $3/dose and Drug B is 90% effective at $100/dose, who should pay the premium for Drug B?

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Really, there has to be some intermediate position between the attitude that we should give everybody everything and the attitude that you don’t deserve it if you can’t afford it. My kid deserves dental visits and check-ups just as much as yours. Socialism isn’t a dirty word any more than capitalism is. They are means to ends… not ends themselves.

I think we need a new system. I think there needs to be incentive for healthy behavior. I think there needs to be some kind of copay for everybody so fewer people go to the doctor when they don’t need to. I think the government is the only entity we have that stands a chance of fixing things but I also think the chances of it really doing so are minimal.

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