Is health insurance a luxury?

[memphis]

Of course not. Everybody needs it.

[Leftbehind]

Well, healthcare isn't.

[Mr. Morden]

I changed the subject line to the relevant question.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Capitalism TURNS it into a luxury.  Of course, it's absolutely a right.  Whether or not the little guy is given his rights is far too often up in the air. 

[Eraserhead]

I changed the subject line to the relevant question.

Actually, the correct board would be part of the Bushie/Update sub-forum. Too bad it doesn't exist.

[anvi]

I've always thought that if a nation's citizens aren't entitled to go to a doctor when it's needed, even if they don't have much money, then that nation doesn't place much value on its citizenry. 

[Mr. Morden]

I changed the subject line to the relevant question.

Actually, the correct board would be part of the Bushie/Update sub-forum. Too bad it doesn't exist.

Time to petition Dave.  Or perhaps just start a brand new BBS, entirely devoted to Update and Update fandom.

[DC Al Fine]

In my area yes, but that's because it's supplementary coverage.

[windjammer]

Capitalism TURNS it into a luxury.  Of course, it's absolutely a right.  Whether or not the little guy is given his rights is far too often up in the air. 

[Zanas]

Is Indian (as in Native American) healthcare a right ?...

[TNF]

Absolutely not. Every person deserves health care coverage. (not awful)

[Torie]

lux·u·ry  (lgzh-r, lksh-)
n. pl. lux·u·ries
1. Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort.
2. Something expensive or hard to obtain.
3. Sumptuous living or surroundings: lives in luxury.
adj.

One might argue that number 2 applies (the rest obviously don't), but to the extent it is, we have a problem. Having sicks running around, who go the emergency rooms after things get bad enough, makes zero sense under any ideological matrix, because it is just stupid. In the meantime, TB is kicking up its ugly head more than it used to, given all the folks who fall through the cracks, and are contagious. It's nutter. Thank you.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Not inherently, but unfortunately, it's almost become one.

[angus]

Is health insurance a luxury?

Nope.  At least not in the USA.  Here, it's a legal requirement.

Thanks, Obama.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Is health insurance a luxury?

Nope.  At least not in the USA.  Here, it's a legal requirement.

Thanks, Obama.

^This.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Is Indian (as in Native American) healthcare a right ?...

Healthcare for all people is a right. If Bushie has to lie about being Native American to afford decent healthcare, that's society's fault, not his.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Life is a luxury. Use it wisely, those of you that can.

[patrick1]

Life is a luxury. Use it wisely, those of you that can.

That is a nice sentiment and all, but those without healthcare have a better and longer one- life that is.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

We have our rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness meaning we have the right to earn things for ourselves. Healthcare as a right is the exact opposite of what was intended for our nation. If you think healthcare was expensive before just wait until it's "free."

What is it with conservatives and making sure poors don't have healthcare?  I mean, I certainly get why the diabolical bastards that run the right-wing show don't want them to have healthcare... but the conservative base made up of people like you and me?  Why?  The Constitution doesn't grant the right to roads, education, and an army to defend us, but I'd love to see you keep nice and quiet if essentials like those were pilfered from you. 

[anvi]

Is health insurance a luxury?

Nope.  At least not in the USA.  Here, it's a legal requirement.

Thanks, Obama.

Whether anyone wants to call health insurance a "right" or not, creating "universal" coverage requires, as a matter of finance, that everyone be in the insurance pool.  And whether everyone is brought into the insurance pool through taxation, purchasing mandates and subsidization, or whatever, legal requirements have to be imposed on citizens.

The massively ironic thing about "Obamacare" is that it actually imposes no legal requirement of individuals to purchase insurance.  It says, if you don't have insurance, you're supposed to pay a fine...but it also says that if you don't pay the fine, the IRS has no legal power to do anything to you.  It's one of the basic reasons the law will be a flop in the long run.  Mandate, my ass.

[anvi]

You have to pay a fine for not purchasing health insurance the same as you have to pay a fine for getting a D.U.I.

That is as it should be.  In many cases, people walking around with treatable illnesses, particularly if they're contagious, can endanger the public health.  And even if not, an uninsured person who visits an emergency room for care and can't pay foists the costs for the care on the general public.  It's not only dangerous to oneself, but it's publicly irresponsible not to have health insurance in the modern world.  Ask Mitt Romney.  Ask almost any Senate Republican that served in the early 1990's.  If people can't afford insurance, then either give it to them or give them subsidies so they can get it themselves.  If they're still not covered after all that, then I'm all for fining them.

The sad irony is, when it comes right down to it, Obamacare doesn't do that.