- This topic is empty.
-
Sometimes those people simply can’t afford what insurance is offered to them.
Right, Jan. And for self-employed people like us that is even more true.
I’m afraid we’re just going to have to agree to disagree with Hooper about this. He sincerely believes that health care should be a commodity (a “consumption item” he calls it) and we just don’t agree with that.
But that’s really what it boils down to, unfortunately: Is health a commodity or is it not a commodity?
I’m guessing that the majority of people on this Forum believe that health care should NOT be a commodity, and that majority would even include some of the conservatives among us.
It’s a funny thing, though: If you polled people as to whether they believed everyone should be guaranteed a basic level of health care — starting with emergency room and preventive care service — I bet most would say, “Sure!”
But if you posed the same question like this: “Do you support socialized medicine?” — they’d say, “Oh, hell no!”
But what the hell? If that’s what you wanna call it, then fine: I’m FOR socialized medicine.
Â
Sending good Kidney Karma to Jan.
Sending lofty thoughts to Hooper.
(Zoloft-y thoughts, that is.)
hooper: I think you have somewhat of a point about being treated unfairly.
You’ve been trying to do the right thing by buying insurance and setting aside money in an HSA account, and then government comes along and says: “We’re changing the rules now; you’ve socked all that money away for nothing. But you can’t have it back either.”
Meanwhile, people who didn’t buy insurance (even though some of them could surely have afforded it) get better treatment than you.
Or that’s your perception anyway.
I can somewhat see your point on that; it’s frustrating.
But surely the solution isn’t to expect some people to do without health care all together simply because they can’t afford it — because that’s what will happen if we keep the old system. Younger, healthier people will tend to bet on their good health and go uninsured or minimally insured, leaving the pool of those who do buy insurance heavily weighted with older people and those who are likelier to have health problems. In a market-based system, that kind of actuarial math is just never gonna pencil out. It’s already not working, in fact, and that’s why we have a crisis on our hands.
JoB: Your solution to hooper’s dilemma is based somewhat on conjecture. And it’s so complicated it doesn’t seem right to me either. Why should we have to go through all this insurance plan strategizing, just to avoid going into bankruptcy if we get sick? Why should we have to take all these gambles with our health and money?
This half-way reform President Obama settled for just made things harder for everyone . . . Yet almost no one is happy with the result.
Except maybe the insurance companies.
 Â
— with apologies to Gary Larson and “The Far Side.”
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.