Healthcare: Right, Privilege, or Responsibility?

I really wish that there was a universal solution. Speaking on personal terms, my parents are struggling. Hard working people all of their lives, retired now. Mom is a breast cancer survivor and dad has had three strokes. Medical insurance premiums eventually reached a rate that was simply unaffordable. Due to medical history, there simply are not any other options because no companies will take them on.

Dad will not take anything for free (including help from his children) and I watch him struggle to keep up with medical bills, monthly prescriptions, etc. He is more than willing to pay for insurance, if only there were a reasonable rate.

To give people an idea, medical insurance premiums for the two of them had reached about $1200 a month for the two of them. They ultimately dropped their insurance when the premiums escalated to $1700 per month total.

Dad maintained insurance with the same company his employer had when he retired. It worked out well for a long time because it meant that both he and mom were guaranteed insurance. Due to the health issues, they could not shop around for better rates. However, it was ultimately at an extremely high monetary cost.

Right now they both pay far less per month in medical costs than they would pay for monthly insurance premiums. However, we pray the day they need major medical care is very distant into the future.


I don't believe the government should be providing insurance. However, there needs to be some type of regulation in place to allow for everyone to at least have a fighting chance in maintaining medical insurance.

 

I would argue that the founding fathers - the guys who wrote and signed that - would have laughed you off the stage.

Life to them meant just that - your life. Not the quality of it.

Where do you draw the line? Define basic? If you choose to shove Doritos down your throat until you weigh 450 pounds, do I have to pay for your heart attack at 45? How about 48? How about your stomach stapling? If you smoke a carton a week, do I have to pay for your lung surgery? Your cancer treatments?

You have a right to a LIFE. The quality of your life is your responsibility.

 

Me, too. My parents are going to be entering into the same realm very soon.

The answer, I'm afraid, for those of us who are younger, is to stay as healthy as we possibly can, live as frugaly as we possibly can, save as much as we possibly can, love and build our families as strong and resiliently as we can - and then lean on all of that as we age.

We've gotten away from a lot of that. My sense is those things are going to quickly come back into vogue.

 

:lol: Standard Red tactic. If you can't find the audio clip, it must not be true.

You're right, Red. TJ and J Mad were all about providing guaranteed healthcare for all those non-landowners....

It's not a guess. It's an educated opinion.

 

I didn't say ammending it was socialist, I said the IDEA of healthcare as a universal RIGHT for EVERYONE is a socialist IDEA!

Funny - I only see socialism when I read the posts of about 4 or 5 folks on this board. Under trees? Never. It is what it is, Red. And diversionary debating tactics won't change it.

Your opinion, I guess.

My opinion is that it is your RESPONSIBILITY to decide how YOU will live your LIFE and PURSUE your happiness.

Not mine.

It is one of the greatest ironies of the 21st century that the word liberty is at the root of the label Liberal, and yet Liberals are daily hacking at personal Liberty via government meddling and intervention.

 

I understand that people get to a point where they cannot afford health insurance. But somehow they blame this on the Health Care system. There is a risk involved and the company is pricing your risk it is that easy.

Next thing I'm going to hear is that it is a right to have life insurance but people can't afford that when they are 80 so we should governmentize it. I mean come on.

 

Negative...I simply plan ahead.

 

absolutely. congress should decide how much money there is to spend and let that determine where the line is drawn

a big part of the problem is that the costs are inflated by the system (extreme measures and employer-based) so that the costs of the preventative things are way out of line. of course, they are inflated by indigent care too.