Michael Moore's "Sicko"

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Yeah, we get it, Alex. Nothing is 'free,' by your definition. Stop getting hung up on that one (admitedly dominant) meaning of the word.

"Free" when applied to healthcare is meant to mean the "free" as in police services, fire services, public schools, etc. Meaning, no money shelled out of your pocket one instance at a time. Everyone knows "free" healthcare is paid through taxes.

Please try and get over it. It's a shortcut phrase. Language is like that sometimes.

The problem is that many people DON'T know that "free" health care is paid via taxes. While all involved in this discussion and even most all on this board in general may know how things would work, I don't believe the masses do. I see a MAJOR fallacy in continuing to call this "free" health care - it is misleading and deceptive.

I firmly believe that individuals are generally fairly smart, but that the masses are generally pretty stupid.

Originally Posted by JWBear

Don’t get me wrong… I’m as fond of Capitalism as the next guy. But Capitalism taken to extremes is as evil as any other system taken to the extreme. There are just some things that shouldn’t be subject to the profit motive. I (and a growing number of my fellow Americans, it would seem) believe that health care is one of those things.

Why is the term "taken to the extremes" coming up? This isn't about any extreme. It is simply a question of whether health care should be brought under the wings of the US Government. And I have yet to see anything that would indicate that the government could do even as good as what we have now. Most indicators point in the other direction.

And darn it - Alex already addressed the police/fire example far better than I could imagine. However, I will add one more tidbit: I don't know of any city that isn't constantly in need of additional police - there always seem to be a shortage.