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To: Logophile
Some can certainly afford to do so, but there are not enough of them. There would not be a homeless problem otherwise. The mentally ill need to live in hospitals - they must be maintained by others permanently. It's not the same as helping someone who is temporarily on hard times get back on their feet.

The core problem is that medical care and maintenance (psychiatric, nursing home, etc) are astronomically expensive. Once this issue is resolved, you'll see the private sector do more.

136 posted on 09/29/2004 10:40:14 AM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
Some can certainly afford to do so, but there are not enough of them. There would not be a homeless problem otherwise. The mentally ill need to live in hospitals - they must be maintained by others permanently. It's not the same as helping someone who is temporarily on hard times get back on their feet.

The "homeless" problem does not stem from a lack of funding for mental health programs. More important are the changes in vagrancy laws and the move toward de-institutionalizing mental patients. As long as alcoholics, drug addicts, and the mentally ill are allowed to wander the streets, there will be a homeless problem.

The core problem is that medical care and maintenance (psychiatric, nursing home, etc) are astronomically expensive. Once this issue is resolved, you'll see the private sector do more.

If, as you say, the core problem is that care is too expensive, how will more government interference improve matters? Governments are not more efficient at providing goods and services than the private sector--just the opposite.

There is nothing magical about government funding of health care. Whether the government writes the checks or a private organization does, the money eventually comes from the same source: those who work and produce. The difference is that private funding is more compatible with a free society.
137 posted on 09/29/2004 12:22:24 PM PDT by Logophile
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