4 ms·

'Right' is probably too strong a word. Does a person have the 'Right' to be rescued from a car accident that would surely kill them without help when it is in

'Right' is probably too strong a word. Does a person have the 'Right' to be rescued from a car accident that would surely kill them without help when it is in other people's power to do so? No. BUT at some point I think it is fair to expect certain behavior from others living in civilized society. A Right? Probably not. But Reasonable Expectation doesn't have the same punch as a slogan.

exclusiv 10y ago
Agreed. I think it's a little damaging to use that word. If it requires someone else to provide it - it's NOT a right because that would infringe on another's rights. It's that simple. It may be the right thing to do to provide it inexpensively, however. At the same time - so many people don't exercise, eat crap, get obese and diabetes or other preventable diseases and then overload the system with expenses. I'm not sure how you solve this issue.
- clavalle 10y ago
  Me neither, not completely anyway. But there are dozens of things I think might help. -Make medical debt non-dischargeable if you incur it without insurance. (Encourage everyone to make an accurate accounting of the risk they are putting on themselves and the system without insurance). -Require price lists of common procedures and tests from providers. (Competition on price). -Close the medicaid gap. -Publish insurance standards and require providers to accept all insurance that meet those standards. (This would allow smaller players into the insurance market spurring competition -- it would also be very difficult to pull off -- perhaps tie it to providers that get federal money in some way). -Incentivise staying healthy by giving rebates for good health. -Incentivise not using health care by giving rebates for not using it over some period of time. -Incentivise shopping around by giving rebates based on finding providers/treatments/prescriptions that are below the average. Penalize those that are above some threshold by dinging future rebates. And on and on. I don't think there is one solution. I think we need to try a bunch of things and keep what works.

exclusiv 10y ago

Agreed. I think it's a little damaging to use that word. If it requires someone else to provide it - it's NOT a right because that would infringe on another's rights. It's that simple. It may be the right thing to do to provide it inexpensively, however. At the same time - so many people don't exercise, eat crap, get obese and diabetes or other preventable diseases and then overload the system with expenses. I'm not sure how you solve this issue.

clavalle 10y ago
Me neither, not completely anyway. But there are dozens of things I think might help. -Make medical debt non-dischargeable if you incur it without insurance. (Encourage everyone to make an accurate accounting of the risk they are putting on themselves and the system without insurance). -Require price lists of common procedures and tests from providers. (Competition on price). -Close the medicaid gap. -Publish insurance standards and require providers to accept all insurance that meet those standards. (This would allow smaller players into the insurance market spurring competition -- it would also be very difficult to pull off -- perhaps tie it to providers that get federal money in some way). -Incentivise staying healthy by giving rebates for good health. -Incentivise not using health care by giving rebates for not using it over some period of time. -Incentivise shopping around by giving rebates based on finding providers/treatments/prescriptions that are below the average. Penalize those that are above some threshold by dinging future rebates. And on and on. I don't think there is one solution. I think we need to try a bunch of things and keep what works.