
Originally Posted by
thegodfather
Such an over simplification of an immensely complex problem with many variables. Even if 90 billion dollars a year was accurate, and it's surely not. Not saying that number was given to you incorrectly, just that the government never gives a true estimate of the cost of things. They underestimate in just about everything they are involved in. Say that it was 90 billion dollars, that means that 350 million people have to be given care within that amount of money, and anything more and you are SHIT OUT OF LUCK. Putting price caps on health care, and being able to provide health care for that cost would mean that RATIONING would have to be put in place. It is the ONLY way that costs would be able to be kept down. Because what if John Doe made a doctors appointment once a week? In a normal situation he is free to do so if he feels something is wrong with him, so long as he can pay out of pocket or afford his co-pay. Under the governments system, they would tell you when and where you can see your doctor, and how many times, in order to avoid 'waste'.
In closing, health care is not a right. You do not have a right to something that other people must provide in order for you to exercise it. You don't have a right to a plasma TV, a BMW, or a 5 bedroom house. You don't have rights to things just because you want them or think you need them. You have the right to life, and you have the right to liberty under our Constitution, you also have the right to pursue happiness, and you have that right so long as you don't require anyone else to do so. So if you used the argument that health care would make you happy, well that may be so, but it requires you obligating a 3rd party, by either forcing a doctor/nurse to treat you by coercion(force/violence), or by taking tax dollars from citizens by coercion(threat of force/violence) in order to pay for your health care.
If you examine any of the rights in the 10 amendments, none of them require action by a 3rd party. You have the right to freedom of speech, but NBC is not required to give you an hour of airtime to speak. You have the right to a firearm, but Smith&Wesson is not required to provide you one for free.
I could delve deep into the ways in which the free market has always provided a better product than the government in almost every single instance, but I'd be wasting my time. Just some food for though, Amtrak, US Postal Service, and Social Security, are government run, and all three are BANKRUPT.