Healthcare is 'a privilege...not a right': GOP lawmaker

Originally posted by skeptic1
reply to post by Blanca Rose

 

The prices are outrageous, true. Due to a chronic illness, I see how crazy things are on my bills.

But, it is not the government's job or responsibility to provide healthcare to everyone just because prices are high. They already manage Medicare and Medicaid and we see how screwed up they are.

It is not a right. People are not entitled to anything from the government. It is not their job to prop people up and take care of them and provide form them from cradle to grave.

Tell that to Citigroup and AIG I mean honestly I don't care about public healthcare but lets look at your Walmart employee. Walmart does not offer benefits to their employee's... they work and your saying they don't deserve healthcare?

reply to post by Noccy


I want someone to point out to me one place in this thread where I said that people did not deserve healthcare. :shk:

I am saying that it is not government's place to provide healthcare for everyone. Just like it isn't their place to pay for educations, buy cars, buy food, and provide homes for every citizen of this country.

It is not their job and it is not their place.

They'd just screw it up like they screwed up MediCare and MediCaid.

I don't think it's a right or a privilege. I do think we shouldn't be gouged for it though.

reply to post by skeptic1


My problem is you have companies that do not provide healthcare at all for their employees!! I believe there should be some type of government subsidized healthcare system for people, especially people that work but are simply not offered healthcare by their employer.

This is one of the biggest reason's that walmart has "lower prices", its because their employees suffer having no benefits as a cost of business.

And I agree nowhere did you say that people don't "deserve" healthcare, but unfortunately it can be implied.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by Noccy]

reply to post by Noccy


The government already does that in the form of MediCare and MediCaid.

And, if the problem is companies not providing benefits, maybe your problem should be with them. Maybe you shouldn't look for solutions from the government.

They are not here to prop us up when things get bad. We are not entitled to everything from the government. Never have been, never should be in the future.

And, there's plenty I can imply from posts here, but I don't. It isn't right nor is it fair.

reply to post by skeptic1


Then explain to me if our government isn't here to prop us up when things get bad why do we even elect government officials? I mean it is our tax dollars at work right? We pay the government officials their salaries through our taxes, so why should I not expect them to do something when I am paying them to do it?

reply to post by Noccy


You are not paying them to provide healthcare for the nation. That is not one of the duties they are charged with in the Constitution.

Just like they are not charged with providing us with homes, cars, educations, and groceries.

Those things are not their job. That is my only point.

Your taxes go, in part, to their healthcare programs now. MediCare and MediCaid are there to help people out. State run healthcare programs are there to help people out. Taxes go there.....why not take advantage of those programs if one's employer doesn't provide health insurance or if one cannot afford their own private insurance?

The government is not there to prop us up in bad times. They are trying now and just making things worse with stimulus packages, bailouts, etc. It isn't their job. And, we are not entitled to be taken care of in every aspect of our lives by the federal government.

Less of a sense of entitlement and more personal responsibility will go a long way to help fix the problems we have now.

reply to post by skeptic1


You see one side of the coin and I see the other, I work in an industry where I deal with people 8 hours a day that struggle to make ends meet. The high cost of healthcare, on top of the ridiculous costs of treatment by the healthcare system. I am a father of four and let me tell you that I pay a large sum monthly for my insurance, now keep in mind only a portion of the medical bills were covered by my insurance company. $32 for a regular tylenol pill when i went through the detailed bill is a little outrageous, I am not asking for a handout from the government with regards to public healthcare. I know it is readily available through state programs as you pointed out. I would like to see it regulated a little more heavily though so we are not gouged by the healthcare providers.

But trust me when I talk to people daily and I go through their debt to income ratio's and they had to give up their insurance in order to put food on their table something is wrong with that.

ann coulter said the same thing a few years back on Politically Incorrect and was almost booed off the stage.

Shows ya how out of touch they are when they are still trying that tack.

So, what many of you are saying, is that if someone is dying, they do not have the right to get healthcare to live?

Were you to be without healthcare, right now, and you had, say, AIDs or cancer... how would that make YOU feel?

Originally posted by skeptic1
Those things are not their job. That is my only point.

It is their job if we (the American people) want it to be their job...

They work for us, remember ?

If majority wants this kind of health care than who we are to argue ?

Or do you think that insurance companies (and Pharma) who programmed people (and put millions of $US in the pockets of our government officials) to think that this is a bad thing should be seen as a good guys, those who are on our side, those who really care ?

I say let's give our government a fair chance, private companies had theirs for years and their record sucks BIG time so far, if you ever worked for one, you would know that people who they "serve" are about the last thing on their mind

reply to post by 5thElement


And, how well has the government done with MediCare and MediCaid? They've had their chance, too, and proved that they suck at it, as well.

If the majority want universal healthcare so much, then don't mandate it. Put it to a vote. Then we can really see how many people actually want it. Like most other things in this country, my guess is that vote would come out to be around 48% for and 48% against.

Originally posted by skeptic1
reply to post by 5thElement

 

And, how well has the government done with MediCare and MediCaid? They've had their chance, too, and proved that they suck at it, as well.

This continues to be your only argument, do people make mistakes and do things in poor judgement? Give them a chance to rectify the things that our goverment has not done so well.