To me, the bottom-line question is this: Sometimes people suffer illnesses or injuries that are very expensive to treat (like $2.5 million worth of medical expenses for trying to save people in a tornado) and are beyond their financial ability to pay for them. The question is how do you want to deal with this fact. Do you: 1. Let them die (which is what some Tea Party-type folks shouted we should do during one of them GOP debates), unless they can get some charitable donations to pay for it? 2. Force the medical care providers to cover at least some of the cost (which is what we do with making ERs treat patients regardless of insurance); or 3. Devise a system under which there is insurance coverage for everyone for such things.
So all of the amendments that went into crafting the bill, you are just going to ignore? Sorry there were way more Republican amendments that went into it. This is another article on what went into the bill. http://www.salon.com/2010/02/23/hcr_amendments/
The Bacchus bill was not the healthcare reform bill that passed. The final bill had no hearings in which to offer amendments. Hence the "We have to pass this bill so you can find out what's in it."
It wasn't the final version of the bill, but it did go into the crafting of the final version. The reason that the end version had to be closed was because Republicans were trying to use the process to halt the bill. But it isn't accurate to say that Republicans got nothing in the bill or were shut out of the process.
there are more choices to make things look better. 4. We can drop him in China. If they treat him, we win. If they don't, we can accuse them for killing an American.
Exactly. So long as there's a system that doesnt include every single person, there are going to be use cases that pose an ethical/moral dilemma. It's difficult to speak dispassionately about cases like this, but the reality is exactly what you've noted- should the general public be required to provide for 2.5 million dollars worth of medical care?
The real question is whether Health Care Corporations should be allowed to charge 2.5 million dollars for medical care.
Insurance Firm Agrees To Pay Joplin Survivor An insurance company that initially refused to pay the medical bills of a man injured in the Joplin tornado while he tried to save three residents of a group home where he worked has now agreed to pay the claim, the company said Monday.
I guess Ron Paul can now see every patient who doesn't have medical coverage in America - Problem Solved!!!
