dented,
the problem that people like you don't see (or worse, do see) is the following.
when i was working my more "middle class" job, i was earning $50,000+/year. take note that this is far above the median. the job was in research and was therefore unstable due to funding issues. i lived a frugal existence, making my own meals and using public transportation. during this time, i had a cancer scare--i feared that i had leukemia. i wondered what would happen if i lost my job and then found out. the price tag for chemo and a bone marrow transplant, assuming it works, is ~ $250,000.
knowing that, with that salary, i was above the median, you HAVE to know there is NO WAY for the average joe to save that sort of money for a "rainy day" in the event that they lose their job. what you are saying when you resist universal access, is that you think it's fair that my savings should be wiped out in the event of an illness that is not of my doing. meanwhile, romney, the drs. paul, and even obama, what's $250,000 to them? they have that in a side account, i'm sure. how is this situation fair?
this, btw, is part of the reason religion is not "just an opinion." this absurd resistance to health care appears to be rooted in a sinister calvinism/predestination, which posits that, in some sense, people are sick because they deserve. this is not true. THIS IS NOT TRUE. THIS IS NOT TRUE.
by "taking responsibility" (the right wing credo), presumably by say, exercising, not smoking, eating right, and avoiding certain chemicals, you only decrease your chances of medical illness. but because we are all mammals, we are all bound by the laws of biology and evolution. the worst case of heart disease i have seen involved a rail thin man who was a vegetarian and a dedicated runner. everyone on this board, in particular, should know this, with the celebrated case of that poor young girl in the lion king of died of leukemia. medical illness does not know you are sweet, talented, and loved by many people. and one need not pick leukemia or heart disease or something rare. one needs only to be hit by some drunken loser, something that happens every day. long term care in a nursing facility runs up $180,000/year.
if you don't like the current idea, come up with something better. many people wanted a single payer system, but what is in place now was explicitly a compromise for people like you. of course, no matter what, there will be wait times, errors, and what not, but the great shame of the american medical system is that it is the #1 cause of bankruptcy. NO ONE should have to go bankrupt because of medical illness.
"it is a shame that people put a price on charity." -- peter hitchens, CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER
Updated On: 11/13/13 at 12:40 AM
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