On the idea of something being free because “Government is paying for it”… let me ask you this: Who is paying for the government?

Also, here’s a thought… why is it up to the Government who may practice medicine and who may not? Ostensibly, it is to ensure our safety. But is that really the case?

I know one.

Many if not most state medical associations maintain benevolent funds for physicians who become indigent. A few states actually maintained homes for indigent physicians. Here’s the Web page for the Massachusetts Medical Society’s benevolent association for indigent physicians.

http://tinyurl.com/2nfbkz

Some become indigent because of substance abuse, and become impoverished trying to get through rehab. Some become physically disabled from the same diseases that affect everyone else. If the physician is in training or early in practice, the physician may not have resources to survive.

Like anyone else.

Every child in America has the right to a free public education. Does this mean teachers are indentured servants? Of course not. There is no reason to assume health care will be any different. A right to health care could simply mean that we adopt a universal health care system where doctors are paid by the government and have to see patients without discrimination as a condition of employment, and patients have a right to be seen.

No right is absolute, not free speech, voting, property rights or anything else. All are balanced out by competing societal needs, competing rights and available resources. So there is no reason to make these slippery slope arguments that a right to health care will somehow become some kind of absolute right such that people can force doctors to perform heart surgery on them for free whether they need it or not. We have only to look at Europe for an example of what a right to health care looks like in practice, and needn’t venture beyond the borders of La-la Land in search of “what-ifs.” Seriously. Let’s keep the discussion grounded in reality for a change.

I’ve run into those same people, and their argument really does invariably boil down to, “but I really need health care, so it’s different!” There’s never really anything substantive or intellectually challenging there. It’s frustrating, but if people don’t want to look at something, you can’t make them see it, any more than you can keep an ostrich from burying its head in the sand.

By her logic, it would be perfectly fine to mandate that contractors, chefs, farmers and tailors all work for free, since their products are all vital and necessary to survival as well. I’m sure there are people who feel that their psychologist is a necessity; I guess that’s a right too. Clearly, since the nation has a genuine need for military servicemen also, it would be fine to conscript and not pay soldiers as well.

They never think it all the way through. Not sure why.

The implanted feces embolized to the patient’s brain.

Broca’s area.

Now all the patient can say is “Flexnerite”, over and over.

A tragic story.

Those who demand ‘free’ healthcare really don’t seem to consider medical personnel as quite fully human, with the same needs and rights and vulnerabilities as any other human. So perplexing! Maybe they never got past the old the-doctor-is-god concept.