Letter: Other costs / LJWorld.com

To the editor:

I am writing in reference to Michael Kelly’s response (Public Forum, Jan. 11) to Ms. Henderson’s letter (Jan. 4) celebrating her recently obtained affordable health care. Mr. Kelly takes issue with the Affordable Care Act and those that qualify for low premiums. He believes those who pay little or nothing for health care are a “charity” and lists all of the costs of providing care for these “charity” cases.

As Mr. Kelly considers himself a critical thinker, I assume he has considered the cost and impact on a nation when millions of citizens have no health insurance. What is the cost of low productivity or lost employment due to illness? Are sick children able to perform well in school? What is the cost to families that are stressed due to concerns over inadequate health care? How do stressed individuals participate in their community? What is the cost of providing crisis health care, versus preventative health care? What is the ethical and moral cost to a nation that does not value the health of its citizens? There are many costs to not providing health care, including human suffering.

U.S. health care costs are higher than any other industrialized country and this cost is not reflected in the overall health of its citizens. I’m glad to know that Mr. Kelly has been fortunate enough to have health care. Affordable health care is not about charity but about allowing our fellow citizens to prosper. The classic Christmas tale of Mr. Scrooge apparently lives on in the 21st century.

Richard Heckler 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Quite an excellent response …

Letter by Ms Henderson http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/jan...

Michael Kelley response Letter http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/jan...

Rick Johnson 1 month, 3 weeks ago

The U.S has one of the best Healthcare systems in the world. Now whether one can afford it or not is another question.

Nothing is free in this world, someone has to pay for it.

Anyone needing health care can go to the ER and be treated whether they can afford it or not. As we, the lucky tax payers will pick up the tab for you whether we like it or not!

Bob Forer 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Actually, Rick, you are wrong. The US does not have one of the best Healthcare systems in the world.

We rank 37th in the world, hardly "one of the best," unless, of course you ascribe a different meaning to "best."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-health-care-rated-37th-worldwide/

Bart Johnson 1 month, 3 weeks ago

There are all kinds of costs associated with heath care, both in getting it and not getting it. The ACA attempts to shift some of these costs from one group of people onto another group of people with the violent coercive power of the State. It is immoral to force people into this cost-shifting policy and it is evil for what it will do to society. Our health will be worse off and we'll pay more for care than ever before.

The only good thing about this is that it will hasten the eventual bankruptcy and collapse of the US government so that we can begin to rebuild sooner rather than later.

"The only good thing about this is that it will hasten the eventual bankruptcy and collapse of the US government so that we can begin to rebuild sooner rather than later."

Opponents of Rooselvelt's New Deal voiced the same "the sky is falling" critique. History proved them wrong. The New Deal precipitated the largest "middle class" in the history of the world, and catapulted the United States into the forefront as the wealthiest, most prosperous country in the world.

History will also prove you wrong, Scott.

As Preisdent Rooselvelt famously said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Bart Johnson 1 month, 2 weeks ago

It was Hoover's New Deal, not Roosevelt's. Roosevelt just copied Hoover's policies and expanded on them.

Regardless, you ideology does not mesh with reality. Reality is that the US total debt far exceeds its ability to pay. It's a matter of mathematics. No country in the history of the world has pulled itself out of a debt this large. We have 10 to 15 years before the government goes bankrupt, and after that, let's hope for the best.

Scott Burkhart 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Yes, Candice, the healthcare costs in the U.S. are atrocious. President Obama and his ilk haven't got the good sense to understand that Healthcare and Health Insurance are not the same thing. Health Insurance is what has driven the cost of healthcare through the roof. Nobody knows what the market value of any procedure or drug should be because it has been artificially bloated by the insurance industry. The very industry this lying president vilified, while on the stump, is now involved in the largest wealth transfer scheme in history. This president doesn't care about health insurance for everyone, he wants to take from those that have and give to those that don't in the name of "fairness." He wasn't raised in this society, he spent most of his formative years in Indonesia. He wasn't raised with a sense of national pride, he was raised in a society that told him the imperialist nations of the world are bad and the U.S. is one of them. That's why he returned the bust of Sir Winston Churchill to England. It had been on display in the White House from the time it was given to a previous administration. Obama is a sham.

Leslie Swearingen 1 month, 3 weeks ago

President Obama is different from us because he was raised in Indonesia and is therefore suspect? Thousands of service children are being raised all over the world. Are they suspect?

He was a kid and he was running around and playing with the other children. I doubt very seriously if any of them were thinking about politics or imperialists vs nationalists.

"That's why he returned the bust of Sir Winston Churchill to England. It had been on display in the White House from the time it was given to a previous administration. Obama is a sham."

I don't think so. This from a British newspaper on the subject.

Further inquiries led to the discovery that there are, in fact, two matching Churchill busts by Epstein.The one displayed by Mr Bush was indeed returned, along with all other art lent to him, as his presidency came to an end. The other, which remains in the White House residence, was given as a gift to President Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 by a group of Atlanticist diplomats and military officers. In an update to his statement, a defiant Mr Pfeiffer stressed that the notion Mr Obama had returned a bust "because of antipathy towards the British" was "an urban legend".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9436526/ White-House-admits-it-did-return-Winston-Churchill-bust-to-Britain.html

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