WHAT... percentage of adults in the United States own cars?

[cherokeeprogressive]

I ask that question because I hear/read every day on DU that EVERYONE should be FORCED to buy health insurance because hey... we do it with cars, don't we? My mother, who drove every day from Norwalk to Downey to go to work for GTE, NEVER had her name on a pink slip as the owner of one of the cars my family owned.

I'd venture a guess that there might be half a million adult New Yorkers (city) who've never even sat in the fucking DRIVER'S seat of a car.

Stop with your comparisons. Stop saying that since we legally demand that car owners be liable for damages they might cause, we should ALSO demand that young people who deem it more necessary to afford a place of their own should be FORCED to buy health insurance in addition to trying to afford their own place in this world.

What a fucking insane comparison: We do it with CARS, don't we?

I'm not at all happy that my government is considering a program that I HAVE to buy into, or pay a "fee", if I don't.

Stop with the Car insurance vs health insurance comparison. Find another reason to convince me that I and those I love MUST buy into the government's program, because that one, I AIN'T BUYIN'.

[BlooInBloo]

1. I think everybody understands that there's no such thing as convincing you. So be it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. OMG Bloo, if you would only try... I'd be onboard in a heartbeat ESPECIALLY if you

deigned it worth your while to provide me with arguments that didn't depend on silly arguments like "we do it with x", that were convincing in the extreme.

Come on Bloo, I know you have it in you. Spend a hundred words or so and convince me that it's okay for the government to demand anything of anyone.

Or not.

[flvegan]

2. Well, it's the wrong type of insurance, which is why I don't use that comparison.

But that's just me. The more appropriate car analogy would be a car warranty and maintenance agreement. Which isn't mandatory, of course.

It's all kind of silly.

[FarCenter]

4. It is OK for you to not buy health insurance if you agree that --

- if you become sick or injured and you can't pay out of pocket, we let you die.

- if you develop an expensive, chronic health problem you cannot then sign up for health insurance coverage.

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. So if I get a cold, or cut my thumb while trying to discover the secrets of a golf ball with a

razor blade, you'll let me die? You'd deny me antibiotics if I didn't buy into the $1900 deal?

Everyone who can't afford to buy into your health insurance scheme should be sentenced to death?

I'm going to die. Of that, I'm convinced. But let me tell you something you might not know... during the ten years I spent in service to my country, I worked in Naval Aviation, which would be the home of more man-made chemicals than anything I've encountered before, or since. I painted airplanes with polyurethane paint, when it wasn't mandated that I wear equipment designed to prevent the inhalation of same. I changed hydraulic components in airplanes that were powered by man-made hydraulic fluid. I literally bathed in toluene in order to rinse that off of me at the end of the day.

If I develop an expensive, chronic health problem, it's likely that the same government you're asking me to give money to in order to ensure my good health is ENTIRELY responsible for my bad health.

Tell me why you want me to pay for insurance to pay for illnesses due to the things your own government exposed me to.

[FarCenter]

10. No, you can pay for the medical services you need on your own

You just can't get health services from a health care system that you are not supporting financially.

If you get an occupational disease related to your government employment, you should be able to sue them, just like someone who gets mesothelioma from working with asbestos. But good luck with that.

[cherokeeprogressive]

11. So you're saying that "Universal Health Care" is only for those who can afford it.

Gotcha.

[FarCenter]

14. For those who can't afford it, there is Medicaid, and the bills also have subsidized policies

IIRC, there is as tapering subsidy available to persons below 3 times the poverty level, which increases as you get down to the poverty level where Medicaid takes over.

So insurance is affordable to all, and everyone must be insured. That is Universal Health Care.

[Coyote_Bandit]

19. Ummmm......

Subsidies are no guarantee that health insurance is affordable. We live in a nation where families with two full time working parents still live in homeless shelters.

Medicaid is a sentence of poverty. Qualification for Medicaid considers assets as well as income. Just because someone has poverty level income it does not mean that they qualify for Medicaid. First they have to liquidate their assets and use the proceeds. Need Medicaid in order to have health care? Say goodbye to any hope of ever having a home, any kind of savings, a retirement plan, a nice car, pretty much anything beyond a subsistence level lifestyle.

[napi21]

17. Oh, STOP crying because you did similar things that a lot of

others did too. I painted cars as a hobby...with polyurethane paint, and although it was recomended that you wear a mask I didn't because I didn't like the feel and the restrictions it caused. I used toluene a lot although I can't say I bathed in it, and I worked on cars...built one of my own streetrods. Bathing in brake fluid was a comon occurance.

I'm 66 years old and have no health problems. I also pay every month for suplemental medicare coverage now, but since employers started passing on part of health care costs, I paid my share. I did it because I took personal responsibility for me. You need to do the same!

[Ozymanithrax]

5. If people will guarantee you will not catch a deadly illness that I must take care of...

Perhaps, put up a million dollar bond that can be used to make sure their refusal to buy insurance does not impact my life and the life of my children, that would be fine.

They do that with auto-insurance. Some people just don't get the idea of the greater good.

[imdjh]

6. I'll tell you the same thing I tell Refuglicans

If you are lucky, you will live a long life and you will eventually be in the government run healthcare program. So you need to start paying into it when you start being an adult. So be an adult.

[dflprincess]

8. Except we're being told most of us may have to pay into private insurance companies -

the very crooks who caused this mess. I wouldn't have a problem being told I have to pay into a national single payer program. I have a big problem being forced to contribute to United Health Group's or Aetna's profits.

The other way car insurance is difference - the older the car the cheaper the insurance.

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. Fuck you, and fuck you.

I have lived my short 48 year old life without much need for a government run health care system, with the exception of the ten years I spent in service to my country. I might add that my Anterior Cruciate Ligament replacement was TOTALLY fucked up by Navy doctors.

I supported my government as a young adult, to the point of being exposed to dangerous man-made chemicals now known to be carcinogenic. I was a Sailor for ten years.

Fuck you and your notion of what constitutes being an adult or not.

I've BEEN in the government run healthcare system, and will need to have both of my knees replaced because of it.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. don't you still get VA benefits for health care?

if so then you don't need to buy into anything.

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. I do not now, nor have I ever recieved VA benefits for health care. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

12. the comparison sucks, I think we can all agree with that... But.....

the problem with not carrying health insurance is that once you get sick or injured you will then want to be treated. If you are willing and able to pay out of pocket then you should be able to not buy insurance. If you are not willing or able to pay out of pocket once you are sick or injured then you need to have been carrying insurance or else everyone else needs to chip in for your care.

Single payer makes the most sense, but since we won't be getting that then some fucked up variation of it that covers everyone is what we need to settle for.

[obliviously]

13. Amen and well said!

[bridgit]

16. Uninsured drivers provided the lift for mandatory auto insurance

So while they are different - health insur auto insur - some tags are transferable. I do agree I don't much care to absorb even the semblance of usery fees/taxes/charges cause I can't afford a plan I'd otherwise be pleased to option if I only had the money to begin with