Dean Forster wrote:
{snip}
> Everything in magical socialist
> land is free for all, somebody else pays for it.
> wheee!
???? I think that increasing opportunities for people is increasing
their freedom. My parents greatly increased my freedom by helping me
go to college - that it cost money (both mine and theirs) doesn't
mean that it didn't increase my freedom to go where I want to and do
what I want to.
{snip}
>> .... do you feel
>> that the ways that you receive those opportunities
>> are reasonable?
> yeah. Though i suppose i could whine and cry and have
> them spoon fed to me, but that would be to the
> detriment of the whole. hmmm...
Yes, it would! (Would you be inclined to 'whine and cry' if those
opportunities were taken away from you? Or if you saw others getting
them, but saw no way that you could get them?)
>> would you like to change those methods in some ways?
> of course, there's always room for improvement.
Good!
> I put
> my favorite fix for American health care in another
> lengthly post.
I'll keep an eye out for it.
>> how would you go
>> about generalizing your favoured solutions so that
>> everyone is able
>> to receive the same benefits as you?
> everyone in America?
Everyone in the World. but 'everyone in America' would be a good
start.
> actually, the poor are better
> off than I, they don't really pay anything. The
> working poor are the worst off, but they will still
> get care if they're really bad.
but not very good care. and lots of people don't go to the doctor
because they can't pay the bill - they might be aware that they can
get free or low cost care, but are either too proud to go through the
hoops or the clinic is too hard to get to. (and they can't afford to
take the time off of work...)
> And if it's an
> expensive/new/complex procedure, there's a less than
> 1% chance that anyone in the spectrum will be denied.
??? i hear about insurance companies denying coverage all the time -
and for most people that means a denial of care.
> Can you say the same of your system?
i have insurance through a COBRA policy (another one of those
'socialistic' innovations - when you get laid-off you get to continue
your medical insurance!) i haven't needed anything extreme out of it
- but since the money that pays for it now comes out of my pocket i'm
a lot more assertive about getting little things taken care of. when
the money came out of my employers pocket i was very sparing with how
much i used the access to medical services, after all it was a shared
resource. now, even though i know that a lot of the costs of medical
care actually are borne by the community as a whole, as far as i'm
concerned if money comes out of my pocket for medical care i am for
damned sure going to get me some medical care.
> It's the
> strength of a system that values individuals, and it
> goes along quite nicely with the hypocratic* oath.
any system that is worth having values individuals, but since i'm an
individual i tend to think that that is obvious.
{snip}
> *I sure hope I spelled that right, I don't want to be
> embarassed by you again when you expose my poor
> capitalist education.
??? i'm afraid i was unaware of embarrassing you. i certainly didn't
intend to....although for the life of me i can't think of how i could
have embarrassed you....
regards,
christopher
--
Christopher Gwyn
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
