The "downside" of our current healthcare system

I copied these excerpts from my colon cancer support group forum, perhaps it will make some who view universal healthcare as the road to socialism take another look

I lost everything, but I had a double whammy! My spouse got throat cancer in 05 and died the end of that year. I took care of him, so we had little to NO income. Before I was Dx in 09 with colon cancer, I tried so hard to keep up with bills, but it ended I could not even afford a lawyer for bankruptcy. A home I lived in and loved 'Gone' bill collectors hounding me daily, even for my deceased spouses medical debts!

I hate this Country for that fact! Other countries with Universal health care lose nothing and if more Americans realized what was happening to so many of us I believe they would protest and not allow ones with devastating diseases to lose all they have worked for all their lives'

44 years of us both working for our American Dream (all gone)
Had we not got Cancer we would have been like the others that 'Still Have their American Dream'

I was back to work only a few weeks after my resection. No choice, I need to pay my bills. Two surgeries in a years time has really set me back. Yes, I have good medical insurance coverage but still the co-pays were hard to keep up with. Disability pay is less than what I would normally get and since I live paycheck to paycheck, a cut in pay has been a real blow.

I'm a single parent with 2 children still at home. I haven't come across too many others who are in the same situation......it seems as tho most of the folks here have a spouse for financial....or at least emotional support.

I hate to whine when deep down I know that I'm blessed but what an awful choice to have to make......death or financial devistation.

How does one cope?

Stories like this break my heart. I talk daily with many who have similar stories. Contracting cancer is devastating enough, but the cost, if you don't have health insurance, often leads to bankruptcy and the loss of everything you have worked for. Even with current health insurance it is costly......many cannot work while going through chemo and lose their income and/or have no job to go back to. It's easy to sit in our cozy homes and not think about people like these women going through such heartbreak and loss, easy to say we can't afford to have a program that takes this burden off them, that they don't matter to this country. Too easy, walk a year in their shoes and then tell me that healthcare is a privilege, reserved for those who can afford it and not a right of every citizen in a country such as ours?? Tell the one woman's children that mommy can either take care of them, or she can be cured, but she cannot afford both.

These are the people who fall through the healthcare traps......many have health insurance, but the co-pays and deductibles, for such a long and costly disease leave them broke. If you don't have insurance, because you couldn't afford it, or because you couldn't qualify for it, or because you lost your job, then before the federal assistance kicks in they will take everything you own. If you think it can't happen to you, think again.......no one thinks they are going to have a devastating illness, yet it happens, and it can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time.

Thanks for listening, you may now go back to fighting over all the petty stuff here, and forget people like this live among us.

As sad as the stories are archer, no one has a right to the services of others or the product of the labor of others. Others may decide to donate or discount those services and products, but the person in need of them has no right to them even if it costs them their life. That is akin to saying the government has the ability to shelter those who lack it in your home without your permission, to take food off of your table to feed others, take clothing out of your closet for others to wear. You may certainly decide to do any or all of the above yourself, but to be compelled to do so using the force of government to achieve it is something quite different. You do not have the right to impoverish all to avoid being impoverished yourself in a society rooted in liberty and private property.

Only when everything is owned equally by all, including the labor that you perform, the place where you are sheltered, the food that is on the table in front of you, the vehicle which transports you, the clothes on your body, can it be said that you have a right to the services and goods that are the product of the labor of someone else.

So Archer would support people with cancer robbing others at gunpoint? Or stealing from our children so their bills will be paid today?

If she doesn't, I do... It's not "robbing" if you've been paying into the system for years. That's why it's called "insurance"...

Oh, wait...I forgot I'm dealing with a sociopathic Randroid... My bad....

The government is composed of the people. If the people decide that they desire to provide medical care and/or health insurance assistance to all, then it is the will of the people. That our local Randian Objectivists oppose this concept has been declared immoral and unChristian by the Catholic church and many other religion and ngo's. In fact, many major religions and commentators have declared that Randian Objectivists can not be considered Christians as the Objectivits principles are in direct opposition to those of Jesus Christ.

I wasn't really looking for comments. I just thought it was important for people to know that their vote has consequences, and those consequences can mean the difference between life and death for some of our fellow citizens. I know that means squat to several of the posters here. I just hoped it might make them think about someone other than themselves for a change.

Democracy4Sale wrote: If she doesn't, I do... It's not "robbing" if you've been paying into the system for years. That's why it's called "insurance"...

Oh, wait...I forgot I'm dealing with a sociopathic Randroid... My bad....

Go read your car insurance policy. There are limits on coverage no matter how many years you have been paying in.

FredHayek wrote:

Democracy4Sale wrote: If she doesn't, I do... It's not "robbing" if you've been paying into the system for years. That's why it's called "insurance"...

Oh, wait...I forgot I'm dealing with a sociopathic Randroid... My bad....

Go read your car insurance policy. There are limits on coverage no matter how many years you have been paying in.

So, you want limits on your life? If you aren't rich enough, please do the rest of us a favor and just die already.

Most health insurance policies before ACA had million dollar limits.

FredHayek wrote: Most health insurance policies before ACA had million dollar limits.

Exactly...we are headed in the right direction now, but that can all be erased by the stroke of the Republican pen (or vote).