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Politics : A US National Health Care System?
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To: Mary Cluney who wrote (4890)2/25/2008 1:58:45 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (2) of 42652
 
Millions of people die in Africa right now because they don't have the $5 needed to buy a mosquito nets. If you can't afford something, you can't afford it.

Its not so cut and dried in rich countries (and in many cases even for the poor Africans, who might be able to raise the $5, but only at the cost of some difficulty, and to decide to take the risk to avoid the major difficulty or opportunity cost).

An young middle class American might look at how much money he has left over each month, and see that its clearly not enough to pay for health insurance. OTOH its not like his expenses are set in stone, he determines to a great degree. Perhaps he could have had a smaller apartment, or bought a decent used car instead of cheap new car (or replace the new car after 8 years instead of 4), maybe he could drop premium cable and the movie channels, or not eat out as much. It could be said that he can't afford health insurance without effecting his lifestyle, but he could change his lifestyle.

For the poor (and esp. for the third world poor) the trade offs are much hasher, and a case can be made that we should help them out so they don't have to make some of these harsh trade offs. But even for them affordability often isn't so simple and binary.
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