The American healthcare system needs repair, stat. While I am no expert on the subject, several points should be considered as we enter this vital national debate. Like auto insurance, the government must require or provide very basic healthcare coverage because people using the expensive emergency room as a doctor’s office must ended. The idea of a person who clearly spends money on fancy cars, jewelry and other luxury items rolling up for free medical care gets on my nerves. Uninsured adults who do that should be prepared to face the grim consequences of their decisions.
President Obama, in his second book, made common sense by stating that if everyone had a primary care physician and regular checkups expensive issues could be addressed cheaply earlier. It is common sense to me that we understand that people leave this earth and long lives are not promised to everyone. If you eat, drink, smoke and ingest too much of the wrong things, you might be leaving happy and soon. Insured people paying higher health care cost to help cover the expenses of the uninsured does not fly. We have priorities in life and only the silly have insurance on their cars and not on themselves—it was nice knowing you.
Would the healthcare lobby please stop trying to frighten people into thinking that the federal government would require poor quality medical coverage for everyone. Like anything else in life, people with means will always have the opportunity to secure better service. I think “basic healthcare coverage” should be similar to required minimum auto insurance and like auto insurance if a person opts for the basic plan that person lives or dies with that decision.
With children and senior citizens covered, regular adults who decide to blow off any coverage should be in a national database as “cash or line of credit” only—as they say, “we strongly recommend that you get you affairs in order.” If this discussion sounds cold and harsh, please understand that the writer is currently uninsured himself.
Would someone tell me who pays for the graphic traumas and lengthy recoveries after thugs are shot by other thugs or the police. The Hippocratic Oath’s “above all, do no harm” provision should be amended to reflect current realities. Did I mention that I am not an expert on healthcare or medical ethics?