If you want to see an example of a classic internet troll, go to this thread on health care at Megan McCardle’s blog and absorb the unhinged flailings of one “van mungo.” It’s all there — the “I can be a jerk because I CARE more than you!” attitude, the disdain for netiquette (for example, the use of all caps claimed first to be “because italics are unavailable to me” and then when it’s pointed out that all that is needed are simple HTML tags a disdainful claim that he’s refusing to use HTML… because), the attacking of not just detractors but would-be allies, until even those who would support his viewpoints are complaining about his attitude, and wild accusations — of racism, of hating reading, of being rightwing, of being wealthy and thus not caring about the poor — leveled at others, the bizarre accusations of claims that no one made and that make no sense (“Are you claiming that there are free clinics on every street corner?” is my favorite), and so on.
I thought of jumping into the fray myself, then discovered that you have to sign up with Movable Type first. Since I can’t seem to get any ID working via any of Movable Type’s current systems, that was the end of that. Getting to the actual subject of her post, and the health care controversy that spawned it, I don’t really have all that much to say. Except for this: are we really that sickly and diseased a nation that we’ve become obsessed with health care? I feel like I’m back among my grandmother and her friends and they’re boring me to death with accounts of their many ailments. The truth is, unless you have kids or chronic health problems you don’t need any more of a health plan than one that covers catastrophic, unexpected medical disasters. Why should regular doctor checkups and minor emergency visits be paid for by insurance? It’s one thing to need help when, say, you’ve been in a car accident or have a heart attack and end up in the hospital having expensive things done to fix you; it’s another to say you should have someone else pay for your flu shot or your yearly exam. Now, I’ve had insurance and I have gone without, and if you ask me I’ve paid less out of my pocket not having insurance than I have when I had a regular chunk taken out of my paycheck for a plan I hardly ever used. The only time I think that insurance really paid for itself was when I had to go to the hospital for a kidney stone and the bill was $6500; other than that I think it would have been more cost effective for me to keep the money and just pay full price the once or twice a year when I needed to go to the doctor. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing since I haven’t had insurance: last year I had a stuffed up ear so I went to the doctor and paid him seventy bucks instead of a ten or fifteen dollar copayment to look at it. Sure that was a big chunk but when I was working I had that much taken out of my paycheck every week — and I maybe saw the doctor once a year. And I was on the cheapest plan my company provided. There wasn’t a “catastrophic illness only” option, even for single healthy people with no kids.
Anyway, the whole idea that people without insurance can’t get health care is a crock. If you are more worried about how you’re going to pay for your health care than about your health, then you have screwed-up priorities. Grant you there are a lot of people with screwed-up priorities in this country, as well as people who believe whatever doomsday scenario universal health care advocates come up with because people in this country have been programmed like Pavlov’s dogs to jump at the sound of “the MAN is keeping you from your entitled free stuff, and also he wants you to drop dead!” But the universal health care people are lying. Because I can assure you that even if you have no money from any source you will get your sickness or injury taken care of, and they’ll work with you on the bill later. Because they do have to pay the doctors and nurses and so on — no one does anything for free. All shifting the health care burden over onto government means the money will be taken out of your paycheck without your consent, and you’ll not only be paying for your own corn removal and tonsillectomy, but for everyone else’s in the country too. What do you think will cost less?
You’re right. One of my pet peeves is that people have been taught to equate health insurance with health care. Note: the pro-socialized medicine people only claim that the “poor” don’t have health insurance like the “rich” do. They don’t claim they don’t get health <i>care</i>.
When we turned 65 about 10 years ago, I tried to opt out of Medicare and buy a catastrophic policy aka major medical only to find to my chagrin that private insurance companies are <i>forbidden</i> to write policies for the geezer gang.
All you can do is join an HMO and put yourself at the mercy of those who think they’re doing you a favor by taking your Medicare plus charging you a monthly fee and a co-o-payment and then rationing out their services to give you the least benefits and the most agita. A pale precursor to Obamacare.
So now with all the free stuff we aged get, it only costs us about $11,000 per year for Medicare, BCBS Supplemental, Medicare Part D Drugs, and additional costs for meds and other things not covered.
PS: Have you noticed the propaganda popping up all over the media that preventative medicine, tests, screenings, etc. aren’t really necessary and are just a waste of money. It’s preposterous, but just softening us up for when they’ll no longer be available under our new masters.
Not to bore you with grandparent type compaints, but my husband has survived bladder cancer, prostate cancer, a heart attack and melanoma because of early detection through routine tests and exams.
How many of today’s baby boomers, most of whom are panting for the government to pay for everything, won’t be as lucky. They’ll be a different kind of statistic instead.
— erp · Jul 11, 08:38 AM · #
It may be propaganda to say “that preventative medicine, tests, screenings, etc. aren’t really necessary and are just a waste of money”, but it does have the advantage of being true.
Many of the tests, screenings, etc. being touted as the way to reduce the costs of health care are what drive up the cost of health care. Many of them are inappropriate and/or unnecessary for much of the populace, especially the younger, healthier segment.
— aelfheld · Jul 11, 11:00 AM · #