Originally Posted by filtherton

Here's what this motherfucker thinks.

I think that it is worthwhile to make healthcare cheap and accessible, not because healthcare is a right, but because it is better than the alternative. I think that society is better off, both financially and otherwise, when it isn't in someone's financial best interest to wait until a condition requires emergency care to do something about it, even if that person isn't presently living up their potential as a cog in the market.

Someone who is sick and works a health-benefits-less job will generally be more of a drain on the resources of the people around them than someone who is healthy and works a health-benefits-less job. You don't exist in a vacuum. Even if you are completely incapable of sympathising with someone who doesn't get benefits through their job (not that it is even realistic to expect everyone to actually be able to get benefits through their job), you should be able to recognize this and favor cheap access to healthcare out of purely selfish reasons. A rising tide raises all ships, or some shit. Healthy people are better consumers and more productive workers.

People shouldn't have to worry about losing their house because they get sick, but beyond that, the fact that people do lose their homes because they get sick is often bad for everyone else, too. I think that we're all better off if healthcare is easier and cheaper to get and i don't mind spending some of my money towards this end, and i don't mind spending some of your money too. You couldn't have earned that if not for the fact that you exist in an interdependent economy that requires a certain amount of living and nonliving infrastructure. If you can't fathom the notion that you would not have been able to make that money if you had only ever taken what you earned than you don't deserve it(yes, even you, mr. "i walked uphill in twelve feet of snow both ways till my toes froze off while you were eating cheetos and watching the price is right". I don't care how much harder you worked, you've still benefitted immensely from taking more than you earned.

I recognize the fact that the government often fucks things up, but in this particular instance, the market approach seems to have fucked things up all on its own quite nicely. Looking towards britain, canada, et al, it seems like they've found a way that most of their citizens are satisfied with.

Also, if folks hate having to rely on the government so much, perhaps they might benefit from a life where they can truly be free of government meddling; somalia perhaps? I hear it's a libertarian dream come true.