Many people want the service, and don't even think of paying for it themselves. They would much rather forget the bill, and have others pay it for them.
It all boils down to two legitimate points of view.
1. There are those that think all people should be held accountable. They have to live a good life and pay all their bills. And, if they don't - we will find some way to make sure they don't get away with anything. We can punish them, deprive them of stuff, and force them to tow the line.
2. The second group think that civilization is still in the early stages of development. There are still many, many people who have not been sufficiently educated and of course there are those that are not educable.
The extreme solution in either case is:
1). We could live in a fascist state - where the trains can run on time and all law abiding citizens do not have to be hazzled by all the people who can not get their acts together.
2). We could live in a complete nanny state, where the government has to provide everything - take care of everything for everyone.
In each case, the solution is messy.
But for me, I am an optimist. I think we can have our cake and also eat it.
I think we can have a society where those that lead good exemplary lives can continue to do so. I think that most people when fully educated would want to be self suffient, be free and lead good lives. But, I think also that in a prosperous society, there would be enough left over to help those that can not help themselves and will not help themselves.
In a good and healthy society, there will be fewer and fewer in the disruptive camp. But, there will always be those that can not help themselves for a lot of very good reasons (bad luck, accidents, and physical and emotional handicaps).
For me, I think we are far from an ideal civilization, but an ideal civilization is achievable and we should strive to get there with as few people being hurt as possible.
So what about those that do not have health insurance?
Those with health insurance will have to do with what is left over - after all those that can pay (and all those that are insured) are taken care of.
We have to be proactive in the way we parcel out what is left over - distribute it in an equitable manner - and help educate those that are educable to be able to help themselves. But, there has to be some proactive component.
An organized proactive componenet is more likely to be effective.
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