N1611B wrote:2122M wrote:extender wrote: Healthcare, isn't a right
The GOP ladies and gentlemen.....
editing to expand. Is it not absolutely INSANE that the GOP firmly believes that every American should have the unfettered RIGHT to own an AR-15, but not an epi-pen? And many of them feel that this is the will of God? A merciful, loving God has bestowed on all American's the right to own an arsenal of weaponry but is also fine with you going bankrupt because you had a stroke.....
I don't think anyone has come out against EpiPens.
Healthcare is largely broken in the United States, and I've yet to see a good solution to that problem. Destroying the economy and levying massive taxes on everyone in order to implement socialized healthcare is a disastrous idea. As it stands, anyone can go to the ER and be treated, regardless of their ability to pay.
The price of Epi-Pens has gone up 750% in 10 years. What do you think the NRA/GOP would say if the government allowed the price of guns to go up by 750% in 10 years. They'd be crying foul from the top of their lungs about how this impedes on people rights. Its crazy.
And enough with idea that socialized medicine will destroy the economy. That's plain fear mongering and nothing more. I personally would rather pay $500 in taxes to a govt. run healthcare program who's sole focus is providing healthcare instead of $800 a month in health insurance payments to a private company who's goal is to grow and provide an increasing return to investors and owners.
And lets dissect your ER example. You seem to think that a poor person can go to the ER and be treated, so everything is rosy? But what happens after? Well, that poor person does get a bill, and if they can't pay then the hospital can and will send them to collections and in doing so destroy what little credit they may have and push them further into poverty.
Meanwhile, the Hospital still needs to recoup the costs of that treatment, so they have to build in that lost revenue is the prices they charge. Most of their income comes from insurance companies who then have to raise their prices (plus a little margin to keep the investors happy). So now you and I (assuming you are insured) are paying for the poor person's exorbitant ER bill through higher premiums.
If that poor family had automatic health coverage by virtue of socialized healthcare, they would have gone to the ER and the hospital would have been paid by the government just like if you and I went.
But lets dig a little deeper. A great number of poor people could avoid very expensive ER visits if they had access to preventative care, which costs significantly less. This is something they currently can't afford but would be provided by socialized healthcare. So even if half of those ER visits turned into twice a year primary care visits, we'd be saving everyone an absolute TON of money by subsidizing a couple of z-packs instead of a hospital visit for pneumonia (as an example).
An edit to keep in on topic: Atifa has not been radicalized by a 'nasty' socialist drive in the democratic party. The socialists on the left are fighting for programs built around empathy and care for our citizens as detailed above. Anyone trying to blame AOC or Bernie for the rise Antifa is crazy. Antifa has become a thing at all only because the president and the GOP have convinced weak minded losers like the Proud Boys that its OK to be a white supremacist in 2019 and some people have loosely organized to remind them that it is in fact, NOT ok to be racist anymore....