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Read "Animal Farm" what the O.P. is suggesting is really eugenics.
Animal Farm is a book well worth the read (So are other works from Orwell). It's been years since I've read it. However, I don't recall any chapter of Animal Farm dealing with eugenics.
Thanks for your kind sentiments. But Surprise! I haven't had any health insurance since mid-2005. Fortunately, I don't have any health problems, but that could all change very suddenly.
A previous poster mentioned 'personal responsibility'. A doctor's visit is not terribly expensive. But a doctor's visit may not be enough to treat any health problems. Often a doctor's visit is only the beginning of a long and expensive treatment phase. I don't know about you people, but $50K-$60K is not exactly pocket change to me. Surgery is expensive. Hospitalization is expensive. And for those without health insurance medical treatment is something they must do without.
So, yes I would choose euthanasia.
That one and only office visit is expensive too!!!
Here's what you can expect when you're uninsured and need just one regular type office visit for say a sinus infection on it's way to bronchitus. Nothing complicated, just country doctor stuff, but if you neglect it you've got pneumonia in less than 2 weeks.
The office staff, after finding out you don't have insurance and asking if you're sure about that (because it's that odd to them), will let you know the fee for establishing yourself as a patient just in paperwork is $235- $300. I shopped around, I'm cheap. They also do not find it acceptable that I offered them my full medical record in a file all done up for them. It's got to be on their paper, and typed into their computer, which I might not cost save by doing the typing myself. I guess some would consider that obnoxious for asking, but if we're trying to save on health care costs, lets see what we can do for ourselves. Answer; Not a blessed thing.
Then the office visit itself, which no one could confirm nor deny as scheduled fee, because it all depends on if its a leap year full moon. Maybe the visit would be $65, or $75. Likely more. But one things for sure; if we've got to order any tests or take cultures, that's much more, but again, they don't know how much. It all depends. Maybe $50 for a throat culture, or $80 for a blood sample- depends what they're testing for. Here's the other thing I knew for sure- by the time that visit was over they'd know exactly how much everything cost and expected payment in full. An ordinary sinus infection, not including medication, could cost $400 plus the what if taxes. Now, if I can just find one antibiotic on the walmart list....
The last time you had an insurer, your file often had the billable rate printed out on a sheet for claims submission. My doctor was billing out at $35. My co-pay in network for regular doc was $20, so the insurance company owes him $15. Specialist copays were more but the specialist billable rate wasn't more- it was less!! That doc sent a check to the insurance company for my over payment, which they negotiated (for themselves in addition to massive premium policy).
I'd love to see the dem, republican, man on the moon, or green little people party option for docs to just bill out at $35 directly across the board, thank you, here is your cash sir. The insurance companies negotiated in the contract they shall not allow me to pay him independently. In other words, outside insurance bill out rates, he and others are obliged to keep costs artificially elevated to $75 per visit. Those negotiated rates not being locked, everyone would have baseline medical available to them and doctors would be able to shake off the administrative costs insurance imposes upon them. This would mean Doctors would have to stop operating lockstep with their political affiliations aimed at keeping costs elevated. This definitely means our government would have to stop being the enabler of anti trust going on between insurance companies writing contracts with doctors.
This is just one view of a very warped system. Anyone have tort reform stories in hand?
actually the 35 you quoted was artificcially LOW... a doctors visit 'should' normally be in the 60-70 range
remember when you pay the doctor xxxx amount of dollars, that is not just going into the doctors pocket...it covers his rent/mortgage/property taxes, his electric bills, his water and other utilities, any equipment he has/wishes to purchase, and his help (nurse, recept,transcriptionist, etc)...and that equipment he bought has to be paid for...if he bought an xray or mri.. he is SAVING you because he is providing you better service, and easier service (doesnt have to send you ELLSEWHERE to a radialogist for an ADDDITIONAL fee from that seperate entity)..an MRI machine is about 1.3 million dollars
did you know that the average hospitals electric bill was 380,000 a month...that's over 4 million a year just to electric company for a hospital
oh and Im not sure where you are getting that 200-300 number for a doctor.....for years I had no insurance (I chose not to, I was single and didnt need doctors, I figured why spend the $50 per week (2600 a year for single coverage though the job) when I only go for a $50 check up once a year)) and that is at least one third of the ''30 million'' ''uninsured'' out there.
Can't rep you, so have to reply here: Interesting post, Harborlady. Reminds me of the "good old days" when a rural family gave the doc a chicken for his house call.
A Cure For America’s Healthcare Problem: Euthanasia
An attempt to compromise with conservatives...
Over 40 million Americans have no health insurance to cover costs if they need medical care. For these people the conservatives (nor the insurance industry) offer no solutions. Consequently, those people with no financial means have no alternative but to die a slow death. Of course, the conservatives (and the insurance industry) don’t consider this as a problem; it’s no skin off the conservative butt. It's understandable why conservatives (and the insurance industry) are so adamantly opposed to any healthcare reform.
So, instead of healthcare reform...Euthanasia!
Doctor Jack Kevorkian constructed a simple contraption for euthanasia. That contraption could be simplified even further, mass produced, and sold over the counter (without prescription) to anyone of legal age (21). Maybe for a sum of $50 or less. The do-it-yourself kit (in patriotic red, white, and blue packaging) could also include a small American flag to wave while the euthanized softly sings God Bless America with his/her dying breath.
Euthanasia is a win/win situation: the sick can avoid needless suffering, the taxpayers would save vast sums of money and not fear that America will become a commie country.
Let us all move to Oregon, then, hire Kervorkian or someone who knows how to do the deed. There are also guns, nooses, blades, unprotected highways full of speeding cars, unprotected train tracks. Pick your poison.
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Sometimes I just can't find the right word. 
They also do not find it acceptable that I offered them my full medical record in a file all done up for them. It's got to be on their paper, and typed into their computer, which I might not cost save by doing the typing myself. I guess some would consider that obnoxious for asking, but if we're trying to save on health care costs, lets see what we can do for ourselves. Answer; Not a blessed thing.
