Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 10/09/13 at 10:05:04:Tony -
Much of what you said makes perfectly good sense. But as a die hard conservative, I don't like gov't intervention in purely personal choices.
For instance - auto liability insurance is required in all states to protect the other guy I may injure in an accident. I don't have to buy collision or comprehensive coverage on my own car - I can self insure that car itself if I so choose.
I see no reason to require health insurers to pay for birth control pills, unless medically needed to regulate hormones, as some women need them for that purpose. And this isn't just a Catholic talking - there are effective and much cheaper ways to contracept - condoms and diaphragms still work to my knowledge;
Yes, I won't drive on a federal highway in Alaska, for instance. You got me on that one. Yet, more and more newly built roads are now toll roads - like the new bypass around the northwest side of Denver, CO, from the airport up to Broomfield, that I traveled on 2 weeks ago. Those who use it pay for it.
Of course, all people matter as much as anyone else. You've missed my past rants on why health insurance is so much more expensive now - the miracles of modern medicine. 40 years ago with my clogged cardiac artery, by now I'd either be dead, in a wheelchair, or barely able to walk 25 feet without stopping to ease the heart pain. Instead, now I jog, ride a bicycle, and after the mandatory 6 month waiting period, was cleared to resume flying.
Without doubt, even 30 years ago, the lady with the uterine cancer would be dead by now. Even 18 months ago, one doctor suggested she investigate hospice care before much longer. Instead, so far, she's totally healthy. Of course, we won't know for another 3 1/2 years if she'll make it long term, as 5 years is the "magic bullet" for most cancer survivors.
My mother died of cancer, 30 years ago. I contribute quite heavily to cancer research, and have lots of contacts at one of the country's premier cancer hospitals, The James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University. One of my friends there seriously predicts, with all of the money now going into research, that we'll beat most types of cancer in the next 10 years. That won't be cheap.
All of this is why medical care is now so expensive, and of course, health insurance premiums have to keep pace with the costs of paying the claims. And before anyone thinks that doctors' incomes are driving up costs, quite the opposite is true. Most docs earn, in constant dollars, less today than in the last 40 or 50 years.
While I grant you that there are those unfortunate souls have suffer from lesser than normal intelligence, I bet that the average person we would call "working poor" like your examples of the guy at Discount Tire could, if he were motivated, substantially improve his financial lot in life. He has made a choice - work a 40 hour week at a job that really didn't even require him to finish high school, while I at age 66 still put in an average of 60 hours per week, and have no intention of slowing down. He could get a 2 year vocational education at a community college, at night, to get a job that pays a whole lot better. But will he put forth that minimal effort?
Yet, I also realize that we need sanitation workers and tire changers. I don't pretend to have all of the answers, yet I do know that I abhor gov't mandates of what to do with my personal life and its choices.
Nice post. Much we could agree on. Much we could disagree on but in a very civil matter.
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