[trebb]

This is now getting away from actual pre-existing conditions to another argument for government overreach on one side and having the government decide to just stop everything it has made people dependent on all at once and let them rot in the streets. There have been avenues for such folks for a long time - mainly through charities and other benevolent orgs/churches, etc. The problem is that we have allowed our Government to take over far more than what is legal and basically set these people up by offering to take care of them and making it so they didn't have to do anything to plan for their care.

For the same reason there are restrictions on salt licks during hunting season, it would be immoral to just yank the rug all at once. It has to be phased and would never get enough votes to even start in the right direction if that isn't in the wording - reality bites but for most of us it's an inconvenient pest - for some it would be like getting thrown back into the ocean after being rescued.

[ClearCase_guy]

Excellent comment. I think people have been suckered into dependency, and virtually all of the previously available alternatives have been removed — getting back to a better social contract is going to be difficult and take quite a bit of time.