One of the stupidest things I have ever seen someone write

[Drale]

In my local paper, they have a "speak out" section in which people can write in their opinions. Today someone wrote in the following "To the person who said "Health care is a human right" it is a privilege, not a human right. The founder did not put it in the constitution because they believed it was an issue for the states. It's called the 10th Amendment." Is it just me or is this really really stupid? For one the founders were lucky to have a doctor, they didn't even dream about a health care system. If people can't even get a simple fact like that down, how are we supposed to trust them to vote the right people into office?

[onethatcares]

1. do you live in Floriduh?

that would explain alot of what you might read in the "speak out" section of the newspaper.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Ooh! I gotta good one too:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9389848&mesg_id=9392810

[emulatorloo]

7. Thanks for the link - I laughed so hard!

Glad I got to see it before it disappears.

[derby378]

3. Don't know about his 10th Amendment argument...

...but healthcare still is not a right in America. It's a privilege - but one that we will soon be forced to pay for.

[Drale]

4. It is a right,

we just have not won that right yet. It is only a matter of time before there is a "socialized medicine system" in the US. Remember everything the right rants against eventually come true, abolishment of slavery, womens right to vote, civil rights, environmental protections and so on and so on.

Edit: PS I live just south of Chicago, and even in this dark blue area, it seems like tea baggers are crying loudly lately.

[the redcoat]

11. There is a reason for that

Healthcare reform will dictate that providers cannot deny people because they have pre-existing conditions or if they're sick.

Now, the obvious answer would be to just not get insurance until you get sick, then drop it afterwards, but then obviously anyone/company providing healthcare would go bankrupt in, what, a matter of seconds?

So the way to counteract the immense benefits of reform is to include a tax so that people don't just wait until they're sick. You can't just have it both ways. But the deficit reduction built into the new healthcare laws (as well as if tax rates go up for the obscenely wealthy) will end up offsetting any increased burdens on the average citizen.

[derby378]

12. I think this is how Republicans sold it when they proposed mandated coverage in the 90s

In the final analysis, you're still being forced to give money to the very corporations that made American health insurance the travesty that it is today.

[thetonka]

13. Health Insurance is NOT Health Care

Accepting this falsehood is how we got to this point and how we ended up with the Health Insurance Reform that will cause more problems than it solves. You can't solve a problem if you don't know the root cause, and very few people understand or accept the root cause.

[LibDemAlways]

5. I don't normally wish anyone ill, but I don't think I'd mind if that

writer found him or herself uninsured and sick. I have a feeling that might just change the person's opinion about healthcare not being a right.

The attitude is very typical of the R's - "I've got mine and you don't matter."

[thetonka]

14. You are assuming too much

You are assuming not having Health Insurance equates to not being able to afford Health Care. Even my Brother in Law who is on disability for his heart is going to be able to get his pacemaker installed. He has to pay cash and in the end it will hurt him financially, but he will live.

The really pathetic thing is that if his insurance paid for the pacemaker it would have cost $160,000. Since he has shopped around it will end up costing him $23,000.

Given this how can ANYONE think that forcing Health Insurance on people thus given the insurance companies MORE power is a solution to the real problem? They WILL pass the costs on to the customers and NOTHING was done to control the cost of Health Care.

If I didn't have Kaiser I think I'd rather pay for my Health Care myself and forgo the insurance scam.

[LibDemAlways]

15. Yes I should have added "broke" as another parameter.

I am not in favor of forcing people to buy insurance from insurance company crooks. That's all they are - lowlife crooks. The U.S. needs to join the civilized world and provide universal health care. Period.

[thetonka]

16. While I agree it should be a goal that everyone should be able to afford Health Care

I trust the Accountants and Lawyers who run the Health Insurance companies as much as I trust the politicians(Accountants and Lawyers for the most part) who run the government.

We do not need specifically Universal Health Care, we NEED Health Care that is affordable by all and is managed by people who know what good Health Care is and what will keep people healthy, personally I think that should be Doctors.

That is why I like having Kaiser, non-profit Health Care system run by doctors. What a novel concept.

[gratuitous]

6. Actually, health care is prior to civil rights

In the preamble to the Constitution, the very foundation of the document is to provide for the general welfare. A healthy population is absolutely vital for securing the blessings of liberty, and is a precondition for individual rights. Health care is therefore actually more important than an enumerated civil right; it's necessary for the full realization of those rights.

[JoePhilly]

9. More of us die from untreated illness than from terrorist attacks,

We spend billions on one, and the right wants us to spend ZERO on the other.

Dopes.

[GentryDixon]

10. It's called culling the herd.

How sad it is they feel this way?

[HubertHeaver]

8. In the last quarter of the 18th century, people survived in

spite of their medical care, not because of it. If medical care had been written in to the constitution, bleeding would be the primary treatment.

[Motown_Johnny]

17. I would argue that it is included in Article 1 Section 8 under "General Welfare"

How in the world can the citizenry's health not be included in "General Welfare"?


http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html

^snip^

Article 1 - The Legislative Branch
Section 8 - Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States



http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/welfare

^snip^

wel·fare   /ˈwɛlˌfɛər/ Show Spelled


–noun
1. the good fortune, health, happiness, prosperity, etc., of a person, group, or organization; well-being: to look after a child's welfare; the physical or moral welfare of society

[marmar]

18. Sounds like one of those Washington Generals-esque right wing guests Thom Hartmann always has on.

nt

[donheld]

19. GO find that person and ask

"Does an unborn fetus have a right to be born?" Bet you a dollar he/she'll say yes. Then ask them why that fetus once it's born has no right to being kept alive.

[krispos42]

20. The only people that have a right to health care are wards of the state

Prisoners and military personnel.


Yay...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

21. If you tried to explain Health Insurance to the founding fathers....

....they'd probably laugh at what saps we've become.