Replies

Maybe I should've been more specific and said qualifying the "yes" or "no" would be fine as well. I guess I'm just tired of seeing people launch into replies *without* clearly answering "yes" or "no" right from the start.

Putting that aside, after reading your comments I think we might agree more than we disagree.

My own answer to the question would go something like this:

No, I do not support denying food and water to all ill people who want it but for whatever reason are forced to rely on the taxpayers to pay the bill. Because to do so would be to support murdering them, even though it would be correct to say taxpayers *shouldn't* be footing the bill. This dilemma was caused and has been made worse by the people's general support for a semi-socialized health care system. The only way to solve it is to grandfather out taxpayer-funded health care and fully return the responsibility over to individuals, families, churches, and charities.

Another question, if you don't mind.. In light of your comments, I take it you are not receiving any money from fellow taxpayers at all in the form of Medicare or SS?

Indeed, I think we agree far more than we disagree - medical care should return to the private sector rather than public entities which traditionally provided only a rarely used safety net. Instead, that safety net has become the standard - that the net would end up with holes is hardly shocking.

No, I do not receive any SS or Medicare. When I want medical care, I go to the doctor, I negotiate with him what the fees will be for his services, and I pay him out of hand. I dread the concept of ending up in emergency care since I will have zero ability to control the costs involved. To handle that, I carry emergency services medical coverage because that insurance can negotiate with the hospital for costs.

I greatly dislike that situation. I know my insurance will be not just paying for my medical care, but for the medical care of those who skip their bills (either don't pay or give false information.) I'll also be supporting what medical care the government declines to pay for. I'm a business person, I don't mind people making a reasonable profit, but it has grown far out of control.

Part of the problem is the virtually complete removal of market forces on our medical care. If your employer provides insurance, you're told which insurance is available and how much you get to pay. No connection is made between use of service and the costs involved. Some companies, to the criticism of many, are starting to give employees more and more of a feel of how much medical coverage costs. But still, it divorces the actual costs from what people are contributing.

If I had a hand in creating legislation to start fixing this problem, my first effort would be requiring all hospitals, clinics, etc to provide an invoice to the consumer detailing what the retail price of their care was, and how much the insurance company paid for it. My second effort would be to require all clinics, hospitals, etc to provide a printed price list that is available for all requests. The pair of initiatives would at least start to put these costs before the public, rather than buried in company health care plans and public budgets.

People will not begin to look for a solution until the problem is bluntly shown to them.