[UltraSearchs]

More power to him. Im sure if this time doesnt work out he will do it agian.

[scemHeish]

So what about the average American family that was working the farmlands, FEEDING you, unable to afford health insurance because the markets are dropping out from under them. The government should mandate healthcare. There ARE people out there who do their part only to be left hanging when Dr. Charge-a-lot charges him so much for treatment the farms are lost to mortgages. Remember this country was built by people like this.

[Rchzygnc]

They should just die, yeah?

If you can't afford food, what do you do? Go to charity, family, friends.. or starve. Why should health care be different?

I think the point is...he shouldn't HAVE to.

Have to what, commit a crime to get health care? Why should he have any? He is unemployed..

How about education? Do away with public schools and only those who can afford private school get to go?

Not sure on Education. I see it both ways. It is required by the govt for everyone, so they can earn from your success (TAXES), so everyone pays into it, to receive it. BUT i also feel public/govt run schools should NOT be up to the level private ones are.

ITT: Garkhal advocates people dying in the streets.

Look at most every country through out history. If you could not work to get food, you either starved, or became a slave. WHY should that no longer be true?

ps.. what does ITT mean?

So what about the average American family that was working the farmlands, FEEDING you, unable to afford health insurance because the markets are dropping out from under them. The government should mandate healthcare. There ARE people out there who do their part only to be left hanging when Dr. Charge-a-lot charges him so much for treatment the farms are lost to mortgages. Remember this country was built by people like this.

That to me is more of an issue with the fact doctors ARE greedy, instead of serving the people like they used to in the old west days. More than a "awe, poor didums. Lets badger the govt into giving you health care"..

[SHpuntik]

ITT: Garkhal advocates slavery.

[b3JOkwXL]

If you can't afford food, what do you do? Go to charity, family, friends.. or starve. Why should health care be different?

...because we can do better.

Have to what, commit a crime to get health care? Why should he have any? He is unemployed.. The guy paid into the system for years...then falls on hard times and it's out the door with him?

Sorry, I think we can do better.

Not sure on Education. I see it both ways. It is required by the govt for everyone, so they can earn from your success (TAXES), so everyone pays into it, to receive it. Socialist!!

...children of the unemployed get to go to school, too, you know.

BUT i also feel public/govt run schools should NOT be up to the level private ones are. Not sure what you are getting at here...public schools should be dumbed down to below the private schools? Huh?

Or private schools should have to meet higher standards? What?

Look at most every country through out history. If you could not work to get food, you either starved, or became a slave. WHY should that no longer be true? Can you name a country where working people eat well and the unemployed were left to starve?

I'm not talking about famine countries or anything...I mean countries with a vibrant economy that let their unemployed starve. If it is "every country in history", this should be easy.

That to me is more of an issue with the fact doctors ARE greedy, instead of serving the people like they used to in the old west days. More than a "awe, poor didums. Lets badger the govt into giving you health care".. So, you think doctors should work for less than what the market will pay, out of sense of service to the greater good of the community?

Liberal!! Socialist!!

[Diondra]

I suppose I should be more specific in my meaning. I know Drs charge a shit load because of insurance haggling. However, the price of public hospitals should not be set by either hospitals, nor the insurance. We, the people, as well as Washington officials have time and again let the medical practice and pharmaceutical companies set the prices so high, no one average income individual can afford either alone. The government could regulate hospital rates, Dr salary caps, prescription drug costs, and assisted living costs. They jacked the price of tobacco through the roof justifying it to cover health care expenses, however, they could just adjust the cost of public health care. If cost of routine healthcare would become more managable by average Joe, all insurance would be needed for is major procedures such as implants and prosthetics, etc. Which are far less of an insurance expendature than er visits, tests, routine check ups, follow ups and prescriptions combined on an annual basis. Take some of that tax money taken from the tobacco industry and actually use it to cushion medical expenses as it was intended to do. It's public health care, not private "if you can afford this" health care. People wouldn't be so drastic in the way they get healthcare that way maybe... Of course, I have a different way I feel about healthcare in maximum security prisons and death row, but that's a different subject and very harsh.

[lmHVYs8e]

Where do you get your stats from? Most bankruptcies are NOT due to medical bills, they are due to people having more toys than they can pay for. My brother is a bankruptcy attorney so that's where I get my stats from.

I do think we need to do something! Most bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills. Most Americans are 1 good illness away from being bankrupt.



You like the idea of Insurance companies controlling it?



As mentioned above, those jobs don't pay healthcare.



Right! So, let's drop the minimum wage and any govt. aid and go back to sweat shops.



I don't get the kill thing...there are easier ways to go to prison without hurting someone else.



That bold part made me laugh...I know it's a typo, but still funny.

Inmate A: what're you in for?
Inmate B: I was wrongly confused.



They should just die, yeah?



I think the point is...he shouldn't HAVE to.



My experience in Germany as well...the Germans I knew were more than happy with their healthcare. The French even moreso. Heck, I had a good friend of mine, who is an MD, that went on vacation in France and her husband got sick...and she gave rave reviews of the French system.

Of course, people who don't want it will swear every European hates their healthcare...all anectdotal I guess, although most EU healthcare systems are rated higher than the US system. Of course, that's just the "corrupt liberal WHO" saying that...

I'm probably not for 100% socialized medicine...but some sort of mix, like the French. I don't think this guy should've felt like he had to commit a crime to get healthcare, though. The whole "you can always go to the ER for free" is kinda BS when someone has cancer or something...gee, just wait until you are near death, then go see an ER doc.

[bestbyV]

Where do you get your stats from? Most bankruptcies are NOT due to medical bills, they are due to people having more toys than they can pay for. My brother is a bankruptcy attorney so that's where I get my stats from.

I got it from an article on CNN...based from a study done by Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School that was published in the American Journal of Medicine.

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-05/h...e?_s=PM:HEALTH

Here is the actual AJMED paper:

http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-...404-5/fulltext

What are your brother's stats? Does he have actual stats, or did he just tell you what he sees most? Perhaps he works in an area that is more prone to lavish lifesyle problems than the country as a whole...or specializes in certain kinds of cases.

Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine. "Unless you're a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you're one illness away from financial ruin in this country," says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. "If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that's the major finding in our study." Health insurance appears to be useless when it is most needed. Twenty-five percent of insurance companies cancel coverage immediately when an individual covered suffers a disabling illness. Within a year, another twenty-five percent of insurers cancel coverage.

[Impariclainna]

Fun fact: Anecdotes aren't stats.

[ConoMadura]

Fun fact: Anecdotes aren't stats.

LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Teomaderm]

None of this healthcare business would even be an issue if more Americans would just eat a damn apple every day. Geez, doesn't anyone follow old proverbs nowadays?

[Clesylafabada]

Too true. It's rather disturbing that almost one out of three of Americans are obese.

[Asianunta]

None of this healthcare business would even be an issue if more Americans would just eat a damn apple every day. Geez, doesn't anyone follow old proverbs nowadays?

The guy who came up with that is dead.

[Rugda]

That is absolutely correct. In fact, the only certainty life contains is death. So why provide healthcare at all? Everyone dies eventually anyways, some sooner than others.

[markbila]

Death is not certain. There are billions of people who've never died.

[bUqLfXRI]

Currently the dead outnumber the living 30 to 1. We're all dead. We just haven't come to realize it yet.

[LorencoLoricelli]

...because we can do better.


The guy paid into the system for years...then falls on hard times and it's out the door with him?

Sorry, I think we can do better.

And to me that should be the decision of his family/friends and community.. NOT fobed on by govt.

Not sure what you are getting at here...public schools should be dumbed down to below the private schools? Huh?

Or private schools should have to meet higher standards? What?

A mix of both. Kind of like you have certain unis who's standards are higher than the others.

Can you name a country where working people eat well and the unemployed were left to starve?

I'm not talking about famine countries or anything...I mean countries with a vibrant economy that let their unemployed starve. If it is "every country in history", this should be easy.

I know england, france and many in europe did in the old days..

So, you think doctors should work for less than what the market will pay, out of sense of service to the greater good of the community?

Liberal!! Socialist!!

I think their fees should be lower, so more can afford them.

If cost of routine healthcare would become more managable by average Joe, all insurance would be needed for is major procedures such as implants and prosthetics, etc. Which are far less of an insurance expendature than er visits, tests, routine check ups, follow ups and prescriptions combined on an annual basis.

Which is what i am getting at..

Death is not certain. There are billions of people who've never died.

How you figure? Everyone dies.. No one is immortal.

[Kimaamighed]

And to me that should be the decision of his family/friends and community.. NOT fobed on by govt.

...what is stopping them now?

A mix of both. Kind of like you have certain unis who's standards are higher than the others. Of course they do. But some public unis are better than some private ones...i just don't get the mandate you want that public schools must be worse than private ones, or how you plan to achieve that.

I know england, france and many in europe did in the old days.. What days are you speaking of? Time period?

I think their fees should be lower, so more can afford them. So, do you think the government should regulate it? Or they just "should do it" on their own? How do you see this coming about?

How about if they just charge what is fair; and for those folks that can't afford them, they can ask their family and friends for help.

Which is what i am getting at.. Of course, life expectancy in 1850 was 38 years...

How you figure? Everyone dies.. No one is immortal. I haven't.

Neither have billions of others...wait, aren't you a Bible guy? Do the names Enoch and Elijah mean anything?

[EsAllCams]

Not yet you haven't...

[bubborn]

None of this healthcare business would even be an issue if more Americans would just eat a damn apple every day. Geez, doesn't anyone follow old proverbs nowadays?

Well according to genesis of the good book, our necessity for health care started over an Apple, and a woman... Funny how only one still regularly contributes though.