Originally posted by Terry Leatherwood:
That means that I pay for that person's medical care. I don't object to helping those who need help. I object to being forced to pay for that care without being asked about it, through increased insurance premiums or higher cost to me, or both.
Which is why everyone over the age of 18 should pay a flat rate 15% of their income (pre-deductions) including money earned buying/selling stocks to cover health care costs. So, everyone pays the same percentage rate of what they make. The rich pay more, because they earn more. That makes it fair. Businesses would prefer this model because then they wouldn't have to deal with confusing payroll deductions and insurance companies.
The point I failed to make earlier was simply that I will soon be forced to purchase "cover everything" medical insurance for myself through a government-run board who will then decide what care is best for me.
A govn't run board that decides your fate isn't any different that a for-profit board that decides you fate, in my opinion. At least, the goven't aren't governed by their bonuses on whether or not they approve or reject your claim. That can't be said for for-profit insurance.
That's what happens when a government runs everything. Everyone gets the same level of service and no one has to pay for that service as an individual.
Well, I do think things like cosmetic surgery shouldn't be included in health care and should be kept separate. So, if you still want to pay for services such as that, I say go right ahead. But NOBODY, NOBODY should have to pay 3/4 of their income to receive medical insurance (which is what we'd have to do we didn't get govn't assistance). Personally, I don't think Obamacare goes far enough. I'd love to have a system like Germany's (a country that currently isn't in the RED).
When I was a foreign exchange student in Germany eons ago, I cut my right hand while washing dishes. I was a student and had no money. My host couple hadn't come home from work, and my hand wouldn't stop bleeding. Finally, I went to my friends who lived next door to ask for help. They drove me to the hospital over my protestations that I had no money to pay for the care. I got right in to see the doctor and got 3 stitches. When the nurse came in to fill out my paperwork, I don't think she ever asked more than my name and maybe my address. Then they sent me on my way. I kept asking my friends where I needed to go to pay. They had no idea what I was talking about. I lived in fear of receiving that bill despite my friends explaining that they didn't pay for medical care, because THAT's how it is in the states.
In countries where there is state-run government health care, people go to the doctor when they need to, instead of waiting until they can afford it or they can no longer put it off (as we do in the States), which keeps costs down. Sure, people abuse the system, but that happens everywhere and is just a fact of life. But telling someone that they can't get medical care because they don't pay taxes, is just as logical as Superman asking if someone is a criminal before he rescues them.
There are those of us that live in fear that something's going to happen where we can no longer afford insurance or no longer receive our goven't assisted insurance. The stress doesn't do our health any good.
My husband works. I stay home with the kids because if I worked my entire paycheck would go to paying for daycare, which to me seems stupid.
Next year, when both my kids are in school, I'll go back to work, which will probably mean we'll earn enough to longer qualify for goven't assisted health insurance, so my entire paycheck will probably go to paying for health insurance, which to me is just as stupid.
Being able to see a doctor without going broke should be a fundamental right. As you wrote earlier:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
If "Welfare" isn't another name for "health" I don't know what is.
Okay, and if I haven't made all you wallowers upset already, I think we should go one step further in following Germany's model. All German males when they graduate from high school are required to spend (correct me if I have the numbers wrong) a year doing military service, or two years doing community service (such as working in a hospital as an orderly) -- they do this instead of having a draft. That way before they head off to college, if they so choose, they've already spent a year living a real life, doing a real job and know what it's like. I think our system of going to college straight out of high school isn't teaching our children what they need to be productive members of society. The US should adopt this model and extend it to women as well.
I'm not wallowing over the election. I have better things to be wallow about than who's living in the White House. <<Steps off of soapbox>>
