Originally posted by sigma:
I assume you mean the cost, but privatized basic health care can be provided at little to no cost. There are thousands of free clinics around the nation that provide these services and don't charge a dime.



There is no such thing as "free" or even "little cost" healthcare - nowhere. The point isn't really up for debate is it? Doctors get paid reasonably well, the technology is expensive and the administration is too; we all know how much healthcare costs - and the money comes just one place - the citizenry - what you refer to as "free" is really just a different way of covering the costs; a different way of distributing the necessary funds - in this case, I believe you mean that someone else is cutting the check.
Quote:

Note that our Founding Fathers didn't put into national healthcare plan into place even in a time when common illnesses were much more likely to be fatal than they are today. We got through almost 200 years without paying any sort of federal taxes for government-supported healthcare because we took care of our own.


The founding fathers couldn't have conceived of health care as we know it now - no more than they could have conceived of hanging chads having anything to do with the right to vote. They also couldn't have conceived of a universal, publicly funded educational system as we have now, but no one seems to have a problem with basic education being a right of citizenship.

Isn't the real question more fundamental than what it costs, how it's delivered, or who cuts the check? Isn't the question more along the lines of "is it the right thing to do - for individual citizens or for the country, or both?"

If you believe the answer is yes, the questions about how to do it and how much it costs become a lot more relevant. If you don't, then for you the debate probably ends there.

Try this little exercise: write down the top 5 things you believe about the right to basic education (assuming you believe it is a right - if not, you undoubtedly know exactly where you stand on universally accesible heathcare).

Then replace the word education with healthcare. Do you still believe the same and if not, what's different?