Do obese people deserve medical treatment? (smokers, drinkers, hang gliders, homosexuals)

Tucson Libertarian Examiner ^ | September 15, 2009 | Adam Maji

[rockrr]

Do (obese) people deserve sunshine?

[Jagdgewehr]

But the premise that someone has "a right to healthcare" means "a right to" seize values by force from those who produce them and give them to those who did not earn them. In such a slave society, people exist and produce values by permission, to the degree in which those in power find them useful. Whether their values are seized directly, such as in socialism, or are nominally theirs but controlled by the state, such as in the fascist state our healthcare system is in, is irrelevant.

Unfortunately, we are already here. If not in practice, it is in mindset by a near majority of citizens in one degree or another.

[YankeeReb]

The fact that such a question needs to be asked is frightening. This is exactly what led Germany to the concentration camps. Once you start asking who deserves medical care, it's a short half step to asking who should be allowed to live. Yeah, yeah ....can't happen here. Don't be too sure.

Already we have Zeke Emanual, the man who wants to scrap the Hippocratic oath, advising the Kenyan warlord. We're all supposed to line up for this in the name of reduced costs, which won't happen. What about ethics? We've seen how government ethics work with the IRS. If you can't pay your taxes, SCREW YOU! We'll take your home and everything else. We're heading for the day when it will be, "Oh you're too fat SCREW YOU!!! No more blood pressure meds!".

[ClearCase_guy]

They deserve anything they can pay for.

Yup. The only moral way to ration health care is through good old Supply and Demand. This is true for everything. It's always been true. You can have anything you can pay for.

The problem (of course) is that as we move further and further from a market-based health care system, the government-imposed mandates become a bigger disturbance in the chain of supply.

If virtually everyone's current healthcare provider covers mammograms for women in their 40's, then that's great. But as soon as the government determines that mammogras are not needed by this group, you can bet that virtually everyone's healthcare provider will stop providing such coverage.

At that point, we've left Supply and Demand behind, and we are left to deal with the fallout of what our masters feel we deserve to have.

There is no freedom down that road.

[mtrott]

That is exactly why it is so important to force every citizen to pay at least some federal income tax. Half the population thinks the federal coffers grow on trees, since they pay no income tax.

[GOP_Lady]

I guess you don't get it.

We're all in the same boat together -- we're not in particular groups.

Here:

"I simply turn on the Golden EIB Microphone and share my honest passions and beliefs with people. And they're free to go elsewhere. They're free to ignore; they're free to believe; they're free to be entertained, I don't care. They're free to do whatever they want. But a lot of people aren't free to smoke cigarettes where they want; they're not free to drink where they want; they're not free to eat the kind of food they want to eat; they're not free to eat trans fats; they're not free to drive certain places. Pretty soon we're going to be told what kind of cars we have to drive. I can't cause that. I can't restrict anybody's freedom. We've elected a guy who can, does, and wants to, all under the guise of saving us. So I appreciate the effort, and I appreciate somewhat losing my temper here. But don't compare me ever to an authoritarian who thinks so little of people that without him they can barely breathe on their own. Don't ever do that." LEARN IT, LOVE IT, LIVE IT! If one cannot understand Rush's words above, then one does not truly understand FREEDOM!

[trisham]

Will they be allowed to pay for it under Obamacare?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

What about people who bite their nails?

They are just ASKING to catch something nasty.

Let's not forget to put them on the list.

[Marty62]

BY THIS IDIOTS THINKING no THEY chose TO ENDANGER THEIR WELL BEING SOOOOOOO, NO HEALTH CARE FOR THEM.

This is the type of thinking you get when the inmates start running the asylum.

[dragonblustar]

They deserve anything they can pay for.

They are more likely to pay for it than drug addicts, ghetto fathers who impregnate multiple women, illegal aliens, young adults, etc...

[mamelukesabre]

Yes, but the “pursuit” of life liberty and happiness is a right. That could be interpreted as including the attempt to acquire medical care when desired.

If a government pre-judges a class or type of individual as undeserving of public health care, is the government not violating rights?

[FrankR]

It is the left who wants to turn health care into a RIGHT...of if Americans have a RIGHT to healthcare, then ALL AMERICANS have the RIGHT to healthcare...or...it then becomes a CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE, and a CONSITITUTIONAL ISSUE.

However, as the liberals all say, the best CURE is PREVENTION...so we need to PREVENT this healthcare boondoggle from every seeing the light of day by exercising our other RIGHTS, the FIRST AMENDMENT, which is protected by the SECOND AMENDMENT.

Also, we need to change the rhetoric...if this debacle comes to fruition, "protest" and "march" should be two words that morph into "invade". We need to show Washington (non-violent) "shock and awe"...a few million people to just jam the city into lockdown.

We can either go and camp out on the capitol steps now, or wait until they put us all into tents where we will have to "camp out" for the rest of our lives.

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS - FEAR IS NOT AN OPTION

[Drew68]

WE ALL DESERVE TREATMENT. GET IT?

Who deserves to pay for it?

[dfwgator]

Yes, but the “pursuit” of life liberty and happiness is a right.

Well then you had better pursue obtaining the means to pay for your health care.

[Natural Law]

What I see as a (one of many, many, many) missed opportunity for the GOP on the health-care debate is the specious argument about the relative cost of health-care in the US. We can all accept that we have the best health-care in the world. We can also accept that those who pay the most, whether for luxury cars, big houses, restaurant meals, first class tickets, etc. get better products. I never thought it was a good idea to implement a lowest bid process for heart surgery.

[GOP_Lady]

That’s what has yet to be decided.

EVERYONE should PAY SOMETHING for healthcare — EVERYONE.

[edweena]

Rush forgot to say that people aren’t free to use recreational drugs, to sell recreational drugs, to sell sexual services, to buy sexual services or to procure lethal drugs to commit suicide. A lot more people would like to have those freedoms than the freedom to eat trans fats.

[Jemian]

Mary, who has problems because has a tendency towards obesity which she does not try to control with diet or exercise,

I do so! It's a metabolic disorder, I tell ya'.

[chris_bdba]

IMHO anyone who needs anything beyond basic care will find that they get no care or care will come too late. There is a reason30% more people die of cancer in countries with this sort of healthcare system. The wait weeds them out. I’m personally petrified since I am a type 1 diabetic and am at the 39 year mark but still in relatively good health. What happens in 15 years when something major could happen and I’m 64 yo? Right now my private insurace would take care of me at 80%.

[VeniVidiVici]

They’ll cover AIDS drugs but not anything obesity related.