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It is immoral to give anyone "access" to the labor and expertise of others. That goes for doctors also. In a free country we agree to trade for access, not demand it or legislate it. Therefore private health insurance paid for by the individual for his own benefit and that of his family is the way to go. People that evade reality and refuse to recognize the reality of illness and death do not get to use force to compel others to pay for their care.
A free country demands a certain degree of rationality and logic from its citizens. Citizens that fail to use that logic should not presume to be able to use force and violence to extricate what they need from the lives of others.
By removing the consequences of evading reality (death and poor care and appealing to charity), we have made people weak and yet so very curiously demanding. It's a tragedy and a disgrace.
The system doesn't end at American borders. It's a global system. And the system gives people in other countries superior access to healthcare. And then charges it back to Americans. We pay more for medicines and medical services because we are subsidizing those medicines and services for the rest of the globe.
It is time for rationality and logic. The blind support for the current system is not rational or logical.
That's an argument. It's founded on the belief that medical research exists only for profit. We have centuries of evidence that that belief is untrue. Medical research exists because people really do want to find cures, just for humane reasons. Medical research exists because people have questions and want answers. Because people want better answers. Because science is a noble pursuit.
And actually the system we have actually doesn't provide an incentive for cures. It provides an incentive for treatments. Long-term treatments. Finding ways for people to LIVE with diseases, dependent on the drugs that the pharmaceutical industry provides, is much more profitable than actually finding cures. And medical research has caught on to that fact in a big way.
And that is perfectly fine. I want a capitalist medical system that is based on merit and based on the profit motive. That system always produces the highest degree of excellence, competence, innovation, and cures. In all fields. But also in medicine, which is no different than any other service or human pursuit. It then sells those cures based on supply and demand for the lowest possible cost. I want doctors that are highly paid and represent the best of the best.
I want pharmaceutical companies that pursue drugs that will help me live better and longer. Knowing that reality dictates that they need to be well paid to pursue this noble activity.
There is no right to health care, nor should there be. Health insurance is the solution to accessing health care. And we should be taught in grade school about its importance. Such that high school graduates purchase health insurance right after food and before housing. It's that important, and we are not teaching it in school. Which is why we felt the need under Obamacare to include a "mandate" that forced young people to buy insurance. No mandate should be necessary. It should be inculcated as a mandatory human concern from our earliest days. Health = Existence. So you take care of that first or face death.
Has nothing to do with whether you have health insurance.
You pay taxes?
Then you pay. This goes back before the ACA.
And I think if we take another step back, we can examine how those high costs impact our economy. If we visualize the economy as a gigantic pie, and slices go to various economic pursuits, like education, manufacturing, technology, and so on, then we need to understand that at any given moment the pie is finite. The pie is all the resources we have. And there are only so many resources we have. As the demand for healthcare will grow (we know that as we age we need more healthcare services, and we know that we have an aging population, and we know that Baby Boomers represent a huge wave of consumers who are on the brink of demanding increased healthcare services), the resources of an economy will shift to meet that demand. Because as a nation we are already devoting a much greater portion of our pie to healthcare, and we are looking at that portion increasing exponentially to meet the Baby Boomer demand, what does that mean to other economic sectors? If all of our resources are going to healthcare, then what happens to education, technology, manufacturing?
This is the behemoth our government is ignoring. Other countries with socialized medicine developed laws and strategies to control costs. We didn't. The pie was so big, we thought it was infinite. It's not. And we have deliberately avoided developing laws and strategies to control costs. We have willingly allowed ourselves to subsidize healthcare around the world, and in exchange we've patted ourselves on the back for having the best medical services available, but only if you could pay for it. While the rest of the world has worked toward providing medical services to the most people. And instead of awards, they've gotten healthier populations with greater longevity.
And that is perfectly fine. I want a capitalist medical system that is based on merit and based on the profit motive. That system always produces the highest degree of excellence, competence, innovation, and cures. In all fields. But also in medicine, which is no different than any other service or human pursuit. It then sells those cures based on supply and demand for the lowest possible cost. I want doctors that are highly paid and represent the best of the best.
I want pharmaceutical companies that pursue drugs that will help me live better and longer. Knowing that reality dictates that they need to be well paid to pursue this noble activity.
There is no right to health care, nor should there be. Health insurance is the solution to accessing health care. And we should be taught in grade school about its importance. Such that high school graduates purchase health insurance right after food and before housing. It's that important, and we are not teaching it in school. Which is why we felt the need under Obamacare to include a "mandate" that forced young people to buy insurance. No mandate should be necessary. It should be inculcated as a mandatory human concern from our earliest days. Health = Existence. So you take care of that first or face death.
I appreciate that. I want a system that will drastically lower costs. So that our economy won't be completely broken in the next 50 years. Which is what will happen if we continue on the path we are on. We simply don't have the resources to continue as we've been doing. We are healthcare's piggy bank, but the piggy bank is running low on funds. And I see no reason for the insurance industry to make profits off of people seeking healthcare.
It is immoral to give anyone "access" to the labor and expertise of others. That goes for doctors also. In a free country we agree to trade for access, not demand it or legislate it. Therefore private health insurance paid for by the individual for his own benefit and that of his family is the way to go. People that evade reality and refuse to recognize the reality of illness and death do not get to use force to compel others to pay for their care.
A free country demands a certain degree of rationality and logic from its citizens. Citizens that fail to use that logic should not presume to be able to use force and violence to extricate what they need from the lives of others.
By removing the consequences of evading reality (death and poor care and appealing to charity), we have made people weak and yet so very curiously demanding. It's a tragedy and a disgrace.
Force and violence? Where do you see that?
It is not immoral to give anyone access to the labor and expertise of others. If you have a business and serve the public, you generally must serve anyone who wants to pay for your services, according to the laws. No one is asking providers to work for free. Greed has allowed great profits and with those profits come excessive influence in government which in turns leads to more profit. Since the government has let the system run amok, it is certainly the government's job to correct our healthcare system. We all pay collectively for roads/fire protection/police and those who provide those services are not unpaid slaves.
I appreciate that. I want a system that will drastically lower costs. So that our economy won't be completely broken in the next 50 years. Which is what will happen if we continue on the path we are on. We simply don't have the resources to continue as we've been doing. We are healthcare's piggy bank, but the piggy bank is running low on funds. And I see no reason for the insurance industry to make profits off of people seeking healthcare.
You can't have low costs for cutting edge research. That's impossible. Health insurance lowers the cost to the greatest degree, but that is simply a function of the market. The key to lowering costs is for everyone to purchase health insurance freely and voluntarily after shopping and comparing. That's what keep all costs within reason and medical costs are not special or immune to this process.
But low cost medicine is not something we can have ever. The technology, the expertise, the innovation, and the discipline demand the highest values from the participants in the field. And that type of quality and expertise and technology will ALWAYS cost lots and lots of money. We need to accept that because it is reality and not accepting it will never change it.
But if everyone properly recognizes the necessity to purchase health insurance and shop for it rationally and with serious purpose, the costs will be acceptable. And I expect health insurance providers, and health industry participants to be motivated by the desire for excellence, effectiveness, AND PROFITS. Money makes the world go round, money makes health care go round. I want greedy market participants to seek profits and produce innovative products and services. I want capitalistic medicine. There is no right to health care, and we must all recognize that great medical systems will only arise if we PAY for it. And we must recognize as individuals that we die and get sick, and health insurance is MANDATORY unless we don't mind begging and dying if we get sick without it.
Responsibility, accountability, and recognition of reality. All are possible if we are taught them from the time we are children.
Force and violence? Where do you see that?
It is not immoral to give anyone access to the labor and expertise of others. If you have a business and serve the public, you generally must serve anyone who wants to pay for your services, according to the laws. No one is asking providers to work for free. Greed has allowed great profits and with those profits come excessive influence in government which in turns leads to more profit. Since the government has let the system run amok, it is certainly the government's job to correct our healthcare system. We all pay collectively for roads/fire protection/police and those who provide those services are not unpaid slaves.
It is immoral to force one person to provide service to you at a price YOU want to pay, rather than the price he wants to charge. The only way to make that happen is threatening violence. Which is what the State does utilizing the powers of taxation and regulation. Under penalty of imprisonment or financial ruin.
So socialized medicine is inherently immoral because it price fixes doctor fees and drug prices. It is monopoly, it is price fixing, and it is anti-freedom.
You have no right to health care, and no right to cheap health care, and no right to affordable health care. If you want to control your medical costs, buy health insurance in the open market. THAT is moral and free. If you don't like the costs or the government influence, remove government from the equation so there is no one to influence. The government should not be involved in medicine at all. And all the high costs we see are a direct result of State involvement and corruption of the medical and insurance fields.
Remember when medical care was a private service and the doctor used to come to your bloody house with his little black bag? Of course you don't. Can anyone imagine that happening now in the Byzantine State Labyrinth we now ludicrously and tragically refer to as a health care "system"?
You can't have low costs for cutting edge research.
Responsibility, accountability, and recognition of reality. All are possible if we are taught them from the time we are children.
Tell that to Madame Curie, or Louis Pasteur.
The obscene profits that are being reaped today are not a recognition of reality. Reality is that the United States can't afford to continue to pay these costs. And if we continue to try, we will progressively devote more and more of our resources to healthcare, until there's nothing left for anything else. At which point, the economy is irretrievably broken.
The obscene profits that are being reaped today are not a recognition of reality. Reality is that the United States can't afford to continue to pay these costs. And if we continue to try, we will progressively devote more and more of our resources to healthcare, until there's nothing left for anything else. At which point, the economy is irretrievably broken.
There is no such thing as obscene profits in a free system. All profits are justified, correct, and result from free and voluntary trade. Someone who provides something good that everyone wants should be a trillionaire and that is totally fine, just, proper, moral, good, correct, healthy, and fair.
Drug companies that research and invent useful drugs that solve problems should make billions and billions of dollars.
And Madame Curie and Louis Pasteur wanted to be paid for their expertise just like you, just like your mother, just like your father, and just like your kids. It's human nature, and it is GOOD to want to trade your talent and time for good old money.
I want a system based on trade where people are free to pursue their talents and offer us amazing medical services and cures for disease. That system has a name: Capitalism.
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