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Originally Posted by djtestudo
...Fire protection and police protection, in addition to infrastructure, are completely different from health care, because health care is generally to protect the individual, while the others serve society as a whole.
...Even infrastructure is for the good of society, because of allowing ease of movement for many in many different situations.
Unless one is discussing infectious/contagious disease, health care is about keeping protecting the individual, and assisting in the recovery of one person.
Maybe we should be asking how the government made it possible for the costs of health care to rise to the point where government-provided health care is a serious option in a free society?
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I would argue that universal health care, while different than police/fire/infrastructure, is also good for society, at several levels, the most obvious being the economic impact of far higher absenteeism (resulting in lower productivity) of uninsured workers and the higher cost of premiums to cover the cost of the uninsured (a study from
Familes USA put that cost in 2005 at an average $922 higher premiums (and rising) for employer-provided family health insurance).
And dk, every public policy discussion does not have to rest on constitutionality. There are times when its just good public policy.