Chris Rangel thinks so:
The average American plans neither for retirement nor for future health care costs even though it is well within the fiscal ability of most of us to do so. The usual scenario is to spend like fiends for 40 years and then let the tax payers pick up the tab. This is usually advantageous since the average American tends to utilize far more health care dollars towards the end of life than they actually contributed during their working lives.It is into this sad context that universal health care will likely become a reality in the next 5-10 years. At that point there will be even less incentive to save money to pay for one’s own future health care costs because, after all, the general consensus is that health care is something that is paid for by someone else. And that someone else is ME; the taxpayer in the top income bracket. So you can go ahead and enjoy that 65-inch plasma HDTV even though you didn’t make enough money to afford it. It’s on me!
Related posts:
- When patients won’t take personal responsibility
- Should letting a premature infant die be considered health care rationing?
- More on health and personal responsibility
- Personal responsibility for nursing home care
- Universal care, increasing patient safety, and tort reform, all in one fell swoop?
- Personal responsibility: Penalties non-compliant patients
- Universal health care oxymoron
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{ 12 comments }
Yes, I can see this would be a concern of yours. I’m sooo sorry your wages are so high that you pay so much in taxes. I guess you could get a 40,000.00 a year job and not pay as much in taxes.
But then some self-righteous doctor would come along, and tell you not to buy a TV, or anything else. just put it all in the bank so you can give it to him one day. You guys are startung to sound silly with your request that people have nothing and buy nothing except medical care. We REALLY need an NHS in this country.
Good call. An NHS would go so far toward solving the problems… I mean, just go the Secretary of State to see how attentive government employees are to your probl…well, bad example. Just go to the postal service to see how efficien… ok, bad example again. Just call up the IRS and see how well they respond to your questions… damn, another bad one.
Get the picture?
Yeah 11:41,
We need to rape all those who make more money than us because we are such losers and can’t provide for ourselves.
You have bought into the left wing thinking that government can provide for you better than you can for yourself. How pathetic.
Lets get things straight here. My spouse and I have worked all of our lives. We have put all our children through college without Govt loans or student loans. We have paid our own way on everything.
there was a time, early on, when we paid every doc bill in full at the time of a visit. Then things changed, which had NOTHING whatsoever to do with us personally. ins companies got involved in healthcare. Physician prices, medications, everything went through the ceiling. Our employers then offered benefits. We would have been damn dumb fools to not take them.
We paid into SS and medicare all of our work lives, Hell we even paid all those other taxes that you belive you are the only ones paying. Do you really want to distance yourself from all of society except other physicians? Is that now your attitude? Is money REALLY the only thing that matters? My husband fought in a Vietnam war for this country and came home and spent the rest of his life being in law enforcement. Do you honestly believe we have lead a losers lifestyle?
You are turning society against you with your demands and your belief that you (and money)are all that matter in this world. Some of you are nothing but a bunch of spoiled brats who want to get rich and who think you have chosen the right career to make that happen. You care nothing for human life.
Call the Waaaa-mbulance quick!
The Plasma HDTV is an opiate for the masses. Otherwise, this widening gap between the rich and the poor might cause social upheaval. So Dr. Rangel, be content. The downtrodden can watch the latest news on Britney Spears and Anna Nichole Smith instead of burglarizing our mansions.
Ah, a class war! How brilliant. I never saw this one coming. Will someone please show me where it is written that physicians who complain about being overtaxed and/or underpaid are automatically greedy “spoiled brats” who only care about money? I want to know where and when after 11 years of physically, emotionally, and intellectually demanding training, over $100,000 in personal debt, and countless 36 hour on-call days and 100+ hour work weeks I lost the moral illegitimacy to be able to ask for fair and just compensation for my time and effort without being called a F***king “spoiled brat” and not caring for human life by people who should know better but for some unknown reason suddenly don’t give a s**t!
Everyone go back and actually read my post very carefully again. It’s not about Vietnam vets who have played by the rules, paid their taxes, and stayed out of debt. It’s about a nation where the average credit card debt is $9,000, NO ONE saves for future medical expenses, and where many are expecting the taxpayers to pick up the tab on their future medical expenses.
If people think all physicians are money hungry and care nothing about patients. Stop whining and change it. Go to medical school and residency and be the 1st physician that ever cared about his or her patients. (sarcasm off)
“the general consensus is that health care is something that is paid for by someone else. And that someone else is ME; the taxpayer in the top income bracket.”-Dr. Rangel
The last time I looked, this was how the U.S. tax system was designed. If you earn more, you pay more in taxes. Private health insurance is like a country club; only those who can afford can join. What Dr. Rangel wants is to keep the country club, it’s only for those who pay and save. If you can’t afford it and can’t save for this country club, keep out. And the country club will guarantee that he remains in the top income bracket.
“Lets get things straight here. My spouse and I have worked all of our lives. We have put all our children through college without Govt loans or student loans.”
So let’s just get “things straight”.
I wish I had parents like you. Nobody put me through school but me, myself, and I. Unfortunately, for most of us our “first mortgage” is six figure educational debt to be paid with dollars taxed at 50% effective rates. And Uncle Sam is not handing out even cost-of-living bonuses to physicians. The matters discussed in this blog are largely beyond the scope of non-practitioner comprehension.
It is reprehensible and insulting to make the comment “you care nothing for human life”. And don’t please don’t play the Vietnam Vet card. I get my fill of that at the local stop light and at least a few docs I know were in Vietnam or in the Iraq revolving door of service while their practices languish.
WELL SAID, Dr. Rangel.
I am an American citizen living in Canada. I have a great deal of experience with both the U.S. healthcare system and Canadian single payer healthcare system. While the Canadian system does have some problems as does every other system one can name, it is far superior in many ways to what exists in my home country.
No one is uninsured. From the poorest to the richest, we all get cutting edge, top notch care. Just recently the Canadian system, via the Montreal Jewish General Hospital, saved my life. I was an inpatient for 8 days. My care and treatment was second to none. When I left the hospital I received a bill for $12.00, the cost of having a private telephone in my room. That is all. I did not have to wait for my care. When I presented myself at hospital with a high fever, I was ushered into the ER and treated immediately.
I do not demonize the doctors in the U.S. I think most of them are heroes. But I think many of them are shying away from a system they do not fully comprehend. Before single payer care became the law in Canada the doctors actually threatened to strike, and if my history serves my properly, I believe they did strike for a brief time. However, it is very rare to find a doctor in Canada who does not favour the current system. Their office expenses are down considerably. They have no insurance forms to fill out, and constant billing to deal with. They do not have to convince insurance companies of HMOs to approve any treatments they prescribe. The only thing the government does is pay the bills. The government does not enter the decision making process. Patients are not required to see any particular physicians. Patients have free choice at all times.
Is this a panacea? Of course not. But compared to the expensive mess in the U.S. it is pretty damn close.
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