Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepyjeff
2) The requirement for car insurance is more about protecting the other drivers on the road.......protection for yourself is usually optional(at least it is in my state).
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So is health care. If I have swine flu, and I can't afford antibiotics or a visit to the doctor to get the prescription, and I'm sitting around hoping that my body will just heal itself, then in the meantime, I'm SPREADING swine flu to all and sundry who have the misfortune to come into contact with me. So let's say I do a Target run to pick up some remedies for my flu symptoms, and as I'm checking out, I set my hands down on the counter. Now, the next person in line behind me happens to be a cancer patient picking up their anti-nausea meds for their chemo treatment (which weakens their immune system).
In this case, would my having had health coverage that allowed me to go immediately to a doctor and get antibiotics, which would have made me less contagious sooner be considered to benefit others?
If my hypothetical is a little too... hypothetical, let's go for a real situation:
If everyone had had health care a few years ago, then perhaps the random stranger with tuberculosis in downtown LA might have gotten treatment for it, and therefore NOT spread TB to people they rode the bus with, which included a friend of mine at USC, who unfortunately CAUGHT it, carried it unknowingly for a few years (spreading it to god knows who) and when diagnosed with it, had to spend half a year on meds. All because she didn't have a car for a few months when she was at USC.