Healthcare is a privilege or a right?

[oneforall57]

As a society we need to have unity. Does leaving healthcare coverage in private hand count as unity?
I watched my mother-in-law die of cancer for two years while she could not afford to be in a private club of proper health coverage. It was a nightmare to deal with!
The www.americanchristiansociety.com says it is wrong to leave healthcare in private hands...
So I guess my question is: Should healthcare coverage be a society thing or private hands?

[nursebenjamin]

I think the important question to ask is, "Should people who have a preexisting medical condition, say cancer as a child, be able to have affordable medical care." Most people will answer this question with a "yes". We now need to figure out how the country can make this possible.

[LiamOS]

That is an interesting question, but the answer is not at all complicated.
Fund hospitals completely such that they can provide complete, comprehensive care to anybody in need; if you need a two hundred thousand dollar operation, it should be given to you.

[McCulloch]

That is an interesting question, but the answer is not at all complicated.
Fund hospitals completely such that they can provide complete, comprehensive care to anybody in need; if you need a two hundred thousand dollar operation, it should be given to you.

If you need a four hundred billion dollar treatment, should it be given to you?

It reminds me of a very old joke. A man at a party approaches a woman with the question, "If I could pay you four billion dollars, would you have sex with me?"
She thinks about what she could do with four billion dollars and reluctantly answers, "yes, I probably would. If it was only once and it was guaranteed to be safe."
"Ok, then, would you slip upstairs with me and have a quickie for $10?" he asks.
"Of course not, what do you think I am?"
He answers, "we've already established what you are, what we're doing now is negotiating the price."

The point: We must admit that there is a point where the cost of health treatments could push it past where any society can provide it by right. The discussion should not be whether it is a privilege or a right, but where that cut off is. Unless, of course, there are some libertarians who advocate that the cut off is $0.

[LiamOS]

You make a valid point, but realistically there is almost no operation that would cost too much for society to handle. In most Western European countries, one receives whatever operation or treatment they need.

[nursebenjamin]

The point: We must admit that there is a point where the cost of health treatments could push it past where any society can provide it by right. The discussion should not be whether it is a privilege or a right, but where that cut off is. Unless, of course, there are some libertarians who advocate that the cut off is $0.

One of the most expensive medical procedures is open heart surgery, and it's incredibly common.[1] If someone is going to argue that we need some sort of cutoff, then surely expensive heart surgery would be beyond the cut off. More than 1/2 million such surgeries are performed each year in the U.S.

I think that your "cut off" argument is moot considering that open heart surgery is already covered by Medicare. If you're over age 65, then Medicare will cover the surgery. If you are under age 65 and without insurance, then you're gonna lose your house in order to pay for the procedure, and even then much of the costs will still have to be passed along to other patients.

[MyReality]

Another way to keep costs down is to cut down on the insanely overpriced doctors in every specialty. While this may not be possible in America's system it will be a major factor in keeping costs to an affordable level.

Granted that it takes very specialized people who go through an arduous school regiment but it is the cost of this schooling that creates the overly expensive cost of medicare.

Lets add on to the fact that most if not all healthcare companies are constantly raising there premiums, and only allowing the healthy access to there plans, even then they will cut a person off there healthcare if they get cancer or some expensive disease.

Get rid of the healthcare business or oversee them is another way to go.

Being a 26 year old male, who had heart surgery when i was 16 i have been denied by every health provider even though i run marathons now. Only place that would except me is farmers for $800 minimum monthly and will be unable to use it for prior conditions. I also learned that my heart problem in the past will be considered a prior condition for almost every major health problem in the future.


Personal experience with the screwed up system. Needs to be fixed or completely overhauled.