Did Anyone See Oprah Yesterday?

The capitalists (Republicans)hate sick people, they suck up money that they want in their bank accounts. As working people, we owe the capitalists a quick death.

If you are faithful enough God will heal you, so say they, the Republican voters.

Maybe because we are wedded to Capitalism and so have to make money from any opportunity that comes our way. Everyone gets sick once in a while. What a great opportunity to make money!

Yes, there is much money to be made from sick people. That is why the insurance companies are paying billions to keep health care reform from being passed.

But it isn't working quite like they thought it would, thank goodness. You can fool people just so long before you make a mistake, and they have bad a couple of whoppers!

That is for sure!

Maybe it's because we are conditioned so that the mere mention of the word "Socialism" is enough to kill any resolution in Congress attached to it.
Don't get me wrong, while most people only read about communism, I lived it and fought it but that does not make me loose all objective reasoning at the mere mention of the word.

Hey Elmer, where did you live? And thank you for be objective and reasonable--which is far more enlightened than some.

Former Yugoslavia and Romania.

Pre 1986

I have a friend who lives in Romania.

That's cool. :-)

Kills everything from rail passenger service to the arts.
Wealth does not equal profit.
Wealth does not equal personal assets.

My question is always, why don't people think their health is important enough to take care of it themselves? Why buy a new car instead of buying insurance? Why have 2 cars instead of insurance? Why a new TV or new computer instead of insurance?

I was raised with the idea that taking care of your health - whether you have insurance or not - is just as important as having a roof over your head and food on the table. There is no reason that we should have to have the government get involved or try to control another part of our lives - not if people learned to take care of themselves.

What and exercise and give up those drugs and eat a sensible diet? We'd rather die. (And we do.)

Oh, Marilyn, there you go blaming the victim again. You always think the worst of people. Why is that?

It's the only way Right Wing Republicanism can work - blame the victim

That's true, Peter. I see so much of that from our little Republican friends on Gather.

"My question is always, why don't people think their health is important enough to take care of it themselves? "

Right. That's the problem in a nutshell. Everyone can afford health insurance but spends the money on dope and consumer goods.

A substantial portion of people without medical insurance can't afford it. Many of them work full time or more and spend enough on food, clothing, and shelter that there's not enough left for medical insurance. Even the most frugal budgeting can't provide for all 4.

Consider the case of a friend of mine. He's been a self-employed IT contractor for close to 30 years. He always bought health insurance for his family. He's put 2 kids through college and has paid out of his own pocket for treatment and special schools for a special needs kid. He recently had major health problems and was declared 100% disabled. He lost most of his savings in the stock market crash. He can't receive medicare for a year. His family is now uninsured. He may lose the house he's lived in for 20 years.

He's always been a strong believer in providing for his family and did it successfully till illness and the recession hit him.

What if you do take care of yourself and buy insurance but are turned down for needed care until it's too late?
What if we all pitch in because we all will have to go to the doctor at one time or another?
What if we stop being small minded and hateful and agree that we all stand to gain by working together than individually.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you asked Jesus, what would he say about your stance?
I am not a Christian but know a little about the bible.
What do you think Jesus' reply to you would be in the next bible exchange given your views?
Matthew 25:35- 39
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"

Elmer, you beat me to the punch on that one! I read Marilyn's comment and had that passage up and ready to post when I saw your comment. Good work!

BTW, I have a very good friend who grew up in Split in the '50s and '60s. We went together to see Milos Forman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being when it came out (late '80s, early '90s?), and were both in tears during the scenes of the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring.

Yes, WWJD? I believe he would say to take care of the people. "What you do for the least of them, you do for me."

And yes, there are people who are underinsured and those that can't get coverage because of pre-existing conditions. There are 45-47 million people who slip through the cracks.

Strange how Marilyn had no reply!

I'm sure Jesus would want people to learn to be responsible for themselves and to not rely on government for everything. I'm sure He would say, rely on me first, on yourself after that, and your family and friends after that. But not on the government.

Elmer? Strange that I have a life outside of Gather. Well go figure. When I logged on today, I had 250 email notifications about comments and replies. This was only one discussion.

You still didn't answer the question.
But then I didn't expect that you would. Unfortunately ideology is more important than honesty.

I thought I did answer, Elmer.

There are so many ways to get medical care in the US if you need help. Most people don't look into them. They prefer complaining. Just yesterday, I researched hundreds of sites where they talk about the free clinics all over the US, as well as doctors in almost every big city that offer free services. Dentistry too. And, of course, there are many ways to get free prescriptions.


There are also churches all over the US that help with dr. bills - not when you've run up a bunch of them, but when you have something wrong and need to see a doc.

Also, as both lamestream and conservative news sources have pointed out - as well as the Obama administration - there are at least 6 million people or more in the US right now who qualify for Medicaid but have never applied.

We don't all have to agree to have poor care so that the few who cannot afford care get some.

Do we need reform? Yes, but not the reform that takes over our health.

The reason we don't want to take care of our sick is that big medicine is making too much money and too many ill informed people who buy big medicine's bogey man stories.

I saw bits of it during the late night re-run.

I think the Europeans (and all other industrialized nations who realize medical care is a moral right) are far ahead of the US on this one.

Yes, Debra. The right-wingers have held to the idea that if you can't afford it is is because you aren't working hard enough.

While some call that the Puritan Work Ethic, I suspect it is more closely allied to greed.

I think you're right!

It's all semantics, Carla. Some Rush-brain jumped on the word "socialism" and put a scary mask on it and the poor fools who never had a thought that wasn't pre-digested got all terrified and started screaming moronic imprecations they themselves didn't understand. The good news is, somebody finally found a way to simplify the concept of a public health insurance option and suddenly they're beginning to calm down. It's "Medicare for everyone" now, folks. Feel better?

Yep. I'd feel better if I knew that if I got sick that I could actually go get tests and treatment without going bankrupt.