Wolf Blitzer had a good exchange with Ron Paul during the recent debate. Blitzer asked what should happen when someone chooses to not get health insurance, then has something bad happen and falls into a coma. Paul, IMHO, gave a non-answer. When asked whether that person should just be permitted to die, Paul said, among other things:One problem with that answer is that it only works for those who happen to belong to churches with the ability to raise huge sums of money, unless churches are going to really gear up with their fund raising efforts so that they can pay for unaffiliated people to stay in the ICU. Medical care costs have changed a bit since Dr. Paul practiced medicine. I don't know why this burden should fall to private charities. The richest country in the world (is that still us?) should be able to provide basic medical care, even for people who don't go to church and don't have any neighbors willing and able to pay for their medical care. Is he saying that churches would pick up the tab for a six-month stay in an ICU? I don't belong to a church, why do I get a free ride on that guy's big hospital bill?

People like Ron Paul and Paul Ryan would "fix" the looming Medicare/Medicaid problem by simply cutting off benefits. To me, and I hope to a majority of voters, that approach is unacceptable. Policy makers should focus on ways to reduce medical costs, not just tell people to do without. For example, if more people had health insurance, more people would take care of themselves, and fewer people would use emergency rooms for their primary care needs. Paul is just wrong when he says that "...the cost is so high because they dump it on the government, it becomes a bureaucracy..." That's a cop out.

Libertarianism has surface appeal, but it just doesn't work. When applied to the health care issue, libertarians would have people die for lack of medical care. They won't admit it. They will try to dance around the issue, but they have no way out. That's what their governing philosophy means.

What does it mean for a church to take care of someone in a coma? Is he suggesting that churches pay the medical costs? What local church can afford even a few months of hospital care even for a single member? Maybe it made sense when hospitals were run by churches but it certainly doesn't make sense when medicine has transmuted into another capitalist business. What models are there out there which provide medical care to most or all of the population that are not versions of socialized medicine in one form or another?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

People should do what they have always done: Die.

Who will be in charge of removing the bodies from the streets?

Absolutely, if a poor person can't afford car insurance and their car is totaled we don't expect the state to help them out. Why, if they can't afford health insurance and they or their child is sick and dying, should it be any different. Life is only worth whatever the individual can pay to preserve it.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Here is a radical idea. In fact, the last time I heard of it was in the saying "Cut your coat according to your cloth". I doubt we'd be in this bad a state if we had done it with out budget. If you can't afford to have kids, don't. You and the wife want to have 50 kids? Feel free. Don't make your kids SEP (Someone Else's Problem).

Take personal responsibility for your bad moves. After all, you do reap the rewards of good moves, don't you? Is it fair that your profits are yours and the risks are SEP like the bailed out companies? Profits are their own and risk and more importantly downfall is SEP?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

What if they're dying from an incurable, contagious virus, or flesh eating bacteria? Even trying to treat them would result in more death! And if a doctor is forced to treat them, we all die. Zombie apocalypse. (See, I can come up with what-ifs, too!) It's such an asinine argument, like you're somehow morally superior because you advocate theft, at gunpoint, to pay for charity opposed to voluntarily contributing? Not everyone's as selfish and miserly as you seem to think, and yourself must be. Quit projecting.

Can you provide an example of a modern industrial society that has anything like universal health care based on a voluntary (as opposed to a taxed) system? Even a small subgroup which operated that way might be a useful example if there is one.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

No. Can you point to a universal health care system based on coercion?

The difference being that nobody has suggested that your what-if should come true.

Yes they have! The internets abound with people clamoring for a zombie outbreak.

Bacteria.

Around here, the highway department picks up the carcasses of deer that get hit by cars, but they get a healthy assist from the vultures. On some of the less traveled dirt roads, the vultures and bacteria pretty much take care of the whole job.

My father-in-law asked that when he dies we just hook him up to his tractor and drag his carcass into the woods at the far end of the pasture. He was only partly kidding. It's probably illegal but I'd sure like to bury him on his farm. He'd like that.

I'll bet it's legal to do that. The local health department might have restrictions on where you can bury someone. The tough part might be getting whoever attends the death to release the body to the family. I would call the local health department. He might also want to get a pre-paid plan through a funeral home. They would know how to make the arrangements.