Obamacare's bottom line--medical profits are immoral

Examiner.com ^ | September 10, 2009 | Bridgette Wallis

[LibertyThug]

There is a basic principle behind the Left’s push to nationalize health insurance—making profit from health care is immoral. Since health care is a right according to the Left, it should not be treated like any other commodity. There is no room for profit in a service that is for the common good of society. No health care related services should be motivated by profit including health insurance, doctor care, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals. The government needs to take the profit motive out of health care by taking it out of the hands of those who seek profits, like corporations and stockholders.

[LibertyThug]

But, when the freedom to create is removed through government regulation or control, we do not end up with a better product or better care. Taking the profit motive out of medical services will do nothing but take away the innovation that makes our health care better.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Even if health care was a "right", does that mean that profits from actual rights is immoral?

You have a right to free speech. So should nobody make a profit from writing, publishing or speaking?

You have a right to a trial and to be represented by an attorney. So should nobody make a profit from being a lawyer?

I won't ask about your right to make money manufacturing and selling firearms. That one's on its way out, anyway.

[Jacquerie]

To Leftists, all profits are immoral.

Of course, high salaries for government bureaucrats are necessary to hire the best and brightest statists.

[BudgieRamone]

Personally—this is one of those things that while I don’t want anyone to miss out on making a profit, I have to wonder whether the art of healing is too much centered on making that profit. In other words, when did making sure that others have a healthy life free from disease or eliminating said disease become such a bad thing? Treating the disease/disorder means more profit than healing it. I am not saying that government intervention in health care is the right thing to do, I am merely saying that I believe that “big pharma” and “big med” simply place profit at the top of their priorities rather than healing.

Case in point watching all those commercials on TV for various drugs. The list of side effects for some of them sound as bad as the disease/disorder. In my mind that is simply a rush to profit from the latest greatest pill (yes gubmint approved safe) and if you get sick from that—well, surprise! We have something else we can sell you!

Jm2B

[screaminsunshine]

Wonder if he thinks the taxes paid on the profits are immoral. What a dilema to be in. Less profit..less tax for stupid Liberal Social Experiments.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Taking the profit motive out of medical services will do nothing but take away the innovation that makes our health care better.

Absolutely!

Someone like Major Garrett needs to press that idiot press secretary Gibbs on this very issue.

[AmishDude]

To Leftists, all profits are immoral.

Nope. Lawyers can get rich without consequence.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Stealing from others is immoral, and using the government's clout to pay less than market value for someone's efforts or what they've produced is stealing.

Is it immoral for a farmer to make money producing food? Is it immoral for the automobile companies that Obama bailed out to make money? Is it immoral for lawyers to make money off the pain and suffering of others (e.g. divorce, personal injury, etc.)? What about all those politicians making money working at lobbying firms? What about Van Jones being hired for $170,000 a year for a job in government without vetting?

I resent having someone who has gamed the system, like Obama, telling me what is moral.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Had a friend yesterday get upset with me when I mentioned that insurance companies are businesses and not charities...

[Question Liberal Authority]

To Obama, taxes on profits are inherently moral. For instance, the government makes more money from the sale of tobacco than the tobacco companies. Yet, when a tobacco company is sued, the government is not a co-defendant.

Obama wants to tax soda to 'fight the obesity problem'. In his mind, this is 'the right thing to do' because it's a way to punish people for the sin of drinking soda.

[Question Liberal Authority]

I believe that “big pharma” and “big med” simply place profit at the top of their priorities rather than healing.

So does big government. Say you have a weight problem contributing to health problems. It's legal for your insurance provider to pay $500 a month for blood pressure pills, but it's not legal for them to pay $25 a month so you can have a gym membership. It's not legal for them to provide you with a $10 bottle of Omega-3, but it is legal for them to give you a $250 bottle of some drug that has a similar effect on your body. It's legal for them to pay for a $100,000 medical procedure to alter the way you eat, but it's not legal for them to buy you a 50 cent plate of vegetables.

[combat_boots]

Have these people ever seen utility headquarters or the exec suites and compensation packages for ‘utilities’?

[bruinbirdman]

"I have to wonder whether the art of healing is too much centered on making that profit. "

Should I pay the doctor enough not only for his office overhead, but also enough so to help him take care of his family?

Should a company charge a dialysis patient enough capital not only to pay for the overhead of the clinic put profit enough so they can raise enough to expand into areas that have no clinics and make the service available to more for less?

Should I invest in a growing free enterprise medical company with the expectation of a return as that company provides services in demand?

Should a state, which franchises utility monopolies, deny the utility enough profit that it does not have the capital to expand into new areas with no utilities?

yitbos

[gwilhelm56]

IDiots in govt should just give us the ability to deduct preventive care... gym, vitamins, OMEGA 3 etc.. instead of the steroid shot that made me gain 80 pounds.

Govt has already screwed up Medical care .. if they control it all... one generation.. life expectancy will drop 5 years, if not more.

[Spok]

When the profit/personal gain motive is kicked out from under the health care industry, the industry will collapse. This is a lesson never learned by the left, as it is more obsessed with power than anything else.

[Mister Muggles]

Funny, but it seems like PARASITIC LAWYERS who target and take advantage of the Healthcare system are one of the, if not THE predominant factor behind high health costs in this country...but nobody seems to be talking about that...

[A Mississippian]

Every time I hear this slop I want to say:

"What gives you the right to force your morality on me??!!??"

The liberal pinheads have been saying that to Christians for decades....

[LibertyThug]

Personally—this is one of those things that while I don’t want anyone to miss out on making a profit, I have to wonder whether the art of healing is too much centered on making that profit. In other words, when did making sure that others have a healthy life free from disease or eliminating said disease become such a bad thing? Treating the disease/disorder means more profit than healing it. I am not saying that government intervention in health care is the right thing to do, I am merely saying that I believe that “big pharma” and “big med” simply place profit at the top of their priorities rather than healing.

I understand where you're coming from because this is how we've been taught to think in public school.

We really can't look at it from that perspective if we want to keep the emphasis on the individual. Isn't it more immoral to force creators and innovators from profiting from their own creations just because they happen to have been created for certain fields that some deem above profit?

Wouldn't they then just be slaves? Wouldn't we then just be profiting off of them? I know it sounds romanticized, but people invent and find cures because they want to and not only because it might benefit society, that is usually a secondary motive.