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

To: Lane3 who wrote (51717)	3/5/2008 4:09:15 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542169

>>The first answer that occurs to me is that a lack of access to healthcare can lead directly to an early, painful death, and that makes it different. As opposed to a later, painful death, I suppose. <g> Seriously, that proposed determinant requires some work, as well. Lots of things do that, and do it much more efficiently. Malnutrition, for example, car crashes, heat, evil or crazy people, etc. That's not a sufficient criterion.<< Karen - I'm not sure I understand how your response follows from my statement. It's true that car crashes, heat, crazy people, and malnutrition can cause early and painful death. I'm not sure what efficiency has to do with anything. The goal is NOT to cause early and painful deaths, but to prevent them if possible. Maybe I just didn't express myself well enough. Let's take car crashes. The government regulates auto safety standards for manufacturers and we have traffic laws to reduce such fatalities. There are food stamps and other assistance programs to ensure that Americans don't die of malnourishment. Let's just leave heat out of it, though I do know that many local governments search homes in times of extreme heat to find elderly people who may be in danger. So why should the government not also be involved in helping people to have access to healthcare? And since the costs of healthcare can be a huge burden on those of us unlucky enough to get things like cancer, why should the government not try to do something about those costs, if possible? - Allen