Uninsured Highland Hospital patient Andrew McGinness talks about Health Care Reform and the dental surgery he needs.
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the only thing wrong with socialism is that eventually you will run out of other people’s money. healthcare is not a right, much like food and shelter.
Calling universal access to health care “socialism” does nothing to fix the problem with health care in America. It’s simply a scare tactic word. Saying that health care is not a right smacks of saying “I have mine, why should I care about you”. The fact of the matter, universal access to health care is looking out for you, Kyle. You and everyone you know is potentially one moment away from a life changing event that disables or sickens them.
Do you really think that it’s right that people suffer in pain because they can’t get treated? Do you think that it’s OK that people go to bed hungry? Or that they don’t have a bed? Your point is asking whose responsibility is it to make a change in those peoples lives. And I take your point to be it shouldn’t be you unless you donate your hard earned money to help those people.
And I say that when we help more people, we help ourselves. I don’t want a dime of my money going to people too lazy to work. But I want crime (and the cost associated with that crime) to go down if when we can give those down on their luck support. I want health care costs to go down when we are able to get people regular access to doctors for preventative care.
Getting everyone access to quality health care that is affordable to everyone and covers everyone could save us money in the long run.
When the uninsured use emergency rooms for a doctor’s office, the cost of the emergency room is huge in comparison of the cost of going to a doctor.
When the chronically ill can’t afford doctor’s visits, their illnesses often go untreated until they are so sick that they go to the hospital.
I find it unacceptable that given our abilities and resources in this country that we have to hold benefit events so that a young cancer victim can get treated. I find it ludicrous that most Americans are one illness away from financial ruin. We don’t have to live in that fear if we treat access to health care is guaranteed to all.
And, you know, I don’t hate the insurance companies that much. If you look at it from a business point of view, they are there to make a profit. They wouldn’t want me as a customer because I have a disability. I say we need to insure our future isn’t devastated by the inability to afford health care.
Ensuring Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness isn’t in the Constitution. But it was important to the founders of our country. You can’t be happy if you’re fearful of losing your life to a treatable illness because you can’t afford it. You have no Liberty if you are treated as a second class citizen because you have a disability and can’t get coverage.
Don’t make me get out of my wheelchair…
If you aren’t scared to death of socialism, go visit Sweden. That place is hell on earth.