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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (669)	6/11/2005 12:15:26 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 544095

"BTW, isn't it interesting that we will spend hundreds of thousands or millions to extend the life of a senior citizen a few years while homeless people under 65 can (and do) die on the streets in the thousands every year with little or no intervention in many cases?" Triage needs to be implemented. And it's ok for people to die quickly, rather than to prolong agony. I think we need to come to terms with death, because our culture has a deep aversion to aging and dying (imo). A little rationality would go a long way in this area.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (669)	6/11/2005 12:22:47 PM
From: Constant Reader	Respond to of 544095

Rambi may or may not correct me if I am wrong, but I believe she was not talking about Social Security or Medicare benefits in the specific case mentioned - she was talking about a sense of entitlement beyond those minimum benefits provided.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (669)	6/11/2005 12:23:36 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 544095

SOcial Security and Medicare-- yes. I wasn't even thinking of them. But we extended those programs with SSI and Medicaid- which don't require any earnings- and the lines began to blur.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (669)	6/11/2005 12:37:30 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 544095

It's not charity - it's the law. SS and Medicare are "insurance" programs. They are government entitlement programs where benefits are earned. They are not charity. Medicaid is an example of a "welfare" type government entitlement program where benefits are not earned. They used to be considered charity but that was considered stigmatizing and over time they've come to be thought of by many as a human right. I really think we'd be better off if unearned entitlement programs, welfare programs, got a bit of their stigma back. And I also think we'd be better off if the government got out of the insurance business and we we converted SS into a welfare program, one with only basic benefits based on need, not a middle class retirement program, because it fosters and legitimizes the entitlement mentality and that is counter-productive from an incentive perspective.