Originally Posted by
Ethan
Sounds like a fairly good principle in general. I'm glad to hear you support the ACA and it's change to penalize those that wanted to simply skip paying for insurance and let all the rest of us pay for their treatment.
What's that, you thought you were arguing against the ACA? How odd - the hospital can't turn you (the hypothetical you) away, and after they ruin your finances, now you want them to bill me, the taxpayer?! I say you don't have the right to gamble *my* money that *you* won't get sick.
Now, if you seriously want to contentiously object to having health insurance, I'm perfectly happy to let you sign a form that says you consent to be left dying on the steps of the hospital for "religious" reasons if you are unable to pay. It'll take a few years, but then all those idiots will be dead and we can stop having this discussion. Unfortunately, the rest of the country here is too soft against crass stupidity, and as such insists we treat you anyway.
I've known some people that couldn't afford health insurance till ACA kicked in. In one case, the inability to pay for health insurance lead to a (somewhat) life-threatening situation - because sometimes you heal, but the 1 year old you didn't feed for a week sure doesn't. It happens here, in the richest country, every day. To *millions*, if I'm not mistaken. (Not fact checked - plus definitions are fuzzy.)
If you (anyone, not op/quoted) think your lucky birth, lucky education, and good employment makes you "better", your worldview is hopeless and your self awareness almost non-existent. You are successful because you were born middle-class or affluent, and are white. It doesn't work at the bottom of the economic pile - and I know most of them work harder every week than I am ever likely to in my whole life.
ACA is a godsend to those stuck down there. "Mandate" my eye - many *jump* at the chance to get hold of insurance. Just as soon as it doesn't take away from getting to eat lunch. The uninsured numbers would be lower still if some republican states didn't refuse the federal money to expand medicare, intentionally letting people get ill and sometimes die for the sake of scoring "political points". If you ever wonder why there is such vitriol in US politics - the fact that one party is accessory to murder has something to do with it.
And now, I go listen to music to calm back down from a mix of rage and despair at the stupidity of the world.