[quote=pri_dk][quote]Government is forcing people to buy insurance from a private for profit company under the guise of healthcare.[/quote]
Anyone who gets caught up on this one point hasn’t made the effort to understand the fundamental problem in this issue.
Here are the facts:
1) Everyone has healthcare needs
2) Healthcare is expensive
Here are the possible models for a solution:
1) Government provides all healthcare
2) Government requires people to cover the cost of their own healthcare
3) Everyone is on their own
#3 sounds great to anyone with libertarian tendencies, but there’s one characteristic of healthcare that throws a wrench in things: Medical providers are ethically obligated to provide basic care to the sick, independent of their ability to pay. Sure the rules on this requirement are complicated, but basically we, as a society, have decided that no one should die bleeding outside the ER door because they don’t have the funds to pay.
So we either abandon the humanitarian principle of providing basic care for all, or we figure out a way to pay for it. That only leaves us with options 1 or 2 above, or some variation on them.
I really don’t think a solution should be that hard to work out – if only we could get past the drama and hyperbole. But God forbid we do anything “socialist” – because the thousands of defence contractor employees waiting for their next government paycheck wouldn’t stand for that.[/quote]
And so if the government has to get involved, then have it be universal healthcare paid w/maybe a higher tax. Why get insurance involved?
