Funny, Bush has lived by this principal for years, and no worries...

So, which social spending programs would you prefer he cut?

more outgo than income.

Funny, Bush has lived by this principal for years, and no worries...

Now you are worked up?

Who said anything about "something for nothing" or "free" health care.

Look again and what Legion said; his 'insurance' take is far more than he can pay himself. If you can't pay for soemthing, that's something for nothing.

What do we do? Simply start printing money?

because you want someone else to pay for your healthcare

Hey Bit, folks in the military have government health care. Can you believe the greed of those guys?

Who said anything about "something for nothing" or "free" health care. Another red herring from the right...

You're into the 'insurance' plan... and you want the government to take it over, because you want someone else to pay for your healthcare... put another way, you want something for nothing... and yet it's the oil companies, and anyone else making a profit that is being 'greedy'?

The narcissism involved here is the stuff of legend.

At the same time, however, we're talking about programs which in legion's case, as an example...(No, Legion, I'm not picking on you) cost more than he can ever pay in. Get more than 40% of the people on the plan doing that and you've doomed the plan to failure, or service cuts or more likely both.

Bingo... this gets us to a key point: medical care itself - both catastrophic and long-term maintenance - are priced beyond the ability of _anyone_ to afford without significant subsidization.

And even assuming we're talking a government plan, where's that money come from?

Where does it come from now? Primarily companies that consider it worth the expense they intercept for their employees vs. the ability to keep said employees healthy. Which leads us to the next point - what makes health care so expensive? IANAD, but I expect it's the high cost of insuring practitioners, plus the exorbitant prices drug companies insist upon for their patent medicines (discussions about acceptable profit-to-R&D ratios can go somewhere else).

Address the cost drivers, and then maybe you can alter the cost. But decreasing the population that can actually get it & afford it only drives up the default rate. That's bad for everyone - even, eventually, the doctors, drug companies, and insurers themselves.

Oh, quite the contrary.

Come on Bit, don't dance away from the issue. What if, God forbid, you needed round the clock care for the rest of your life? After your resources are exhausted:

* A guard against Emergencies, where you stockpile money against the event of an illness, wherein you actually pay your way

will you refuse the government supplied, care you need to stay alive? Care others pay for?

Bit seems to think he is Superman, and a catastrophic accident or illness can never befall him. Either that or he figures "screw people who can't take care of themselves because of accident or illness, unless of course I should become on of them in which case I will let the system take care me. Ha, Ha.

Oh, quite the contrary. At the same time, however, we're talking about programs which in legion's case, as an example...(No, Legion, I'm not picking on you) cost more than he can ever pay in. Get more than 40% of the people on the plan doing that and you've doomed the plan to failure, or service cuts or more likely both. What's the help in that?

And even assuming we're talking a government plan, where's that money come from?

Is insurance to be

* A means for the CEO of Wellpoint to make $46 million a year off of people trying to take care of themselves?

* A means for people to have decent health care that they pay for, via taxes, work, premiums, or all combined?

Bit seems to think he is Superman, and a catastrophic accident or illness can never befall him. Either that or he figures "screw people who can't take care of themselves because of accident or illness, unless of course I should become on of them in which case I will let the system take care me. Ha, Ha.

Even Christoper Reeve was not Superman. Costs associated with his accident exhausted his resources pretty quickly, and he was a movie star. It can happen to ANYONE.

Is insurance to be

* A guard against Emergencies, where you stockpile money against the event of an illness, wherein you actually pay your way

* A means by which you obtain meds cheaper, because someone else is paying for them?

Of course this is not a problem for people who are married to rich women, are senior government employees, and so on.