Is health care a responsibility of the government. or a personal responsibility?

Why should the government be involved in your medical care other than to make sure you get a safe and correct care when you do, but it is not their responsibility or a power given to the government to do such things as pay for it. You pay for it yourself, or go without. The federal government in fact is prevented so by the 10th amendment, which limited the power of the federal government to do 90% of what they still do..

 

Right now healthcare is the responsibility of businesses and this is putting a huge burden on US businesses and making it harder for them to compete with foreign competitors. This is also increasing automation and outsourcing since companies have to help pay to take care of their employees. In my mind, a country should aim to have a system where even people earning minimum wage can afford to pay for health insurance and won't go bankrupt when they get sick. If the bottom 30% can't afford healthcare, and we don't even care then there is something seriously wrong because everyone knows and loves someone who is poor. There are two ways of making healthcare affordable to the poor: Make healthcare so cheap that it affordable even for the very poor, and/or help the poorest pay for healthcare in some way. I think the answer requires a combination of the two.

 

Promoting the general welfare of the public appears twice in the Constitution.
First in the preamble and then in the opening line of Article I Section 8.

Health is at the cornerstone of all rights and pursuits, they are dependent upon one another.

Our current healthcare system is corrupt, inefficient, and bankrupting the country.
It simply isn’t working.

 

The government has been involved in providing medical care for individuals for a long time:
It has provided medicaid for poorer people for 36 years.
It has provided medicare for elderly people for 52 years
It has provided health care for Congress and Federal employees for 58 years
It has provided health care for the military and veterans for 207 years.

If you feel the 10th Amendment forbids this I would suggest a law suit to do away with these programs.

 

Why should the government be involved in the gathering and dissemination of meteorology data when there is no specific constitutional authority for such service?

In an imaginary "civilized country" with great material wealth, is healthcare for the people really a good idea?

 

If 'promote the general welfare' meant to do whatever is necessary to provide for the happiness of the citizens, then, as a number of the framers said, that would be the only sentence necessary in the entire constitution in terms of what the government can or cannot do.

 

Your own health is your own responsibility.

If done correctly like here in Norway, healthcare is ran by the government but it's your own job to make sure you get the care you need. Just because the healthcare is being ran by the government it does not mean you are free of any responsibility nor accountability for your own health and healthcare.

 

To those who advocate "You pay for it yourself, or go without"......Have you ever deducted a medical expense?

If so, then Uncle Sam is involve in your medical care.

....and what about the Employer-sponsored health insurance SUBSIDY, should or should not be abolished?

"should not", then Uncle Sam is involve in your medical care.

 

Not taxing something and providing a subsidy are two entirely different things.

 

HOWEVER, the main reason why health care is a responsibility of the government is;

......because the U.S. is still a signatory to the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights

My definitions of "You pay for it yourself, or go without" are;

a. No more Government-sponsored health care
b. No more health care expense deductions/tax breaks/subsidies
c. No more Employer's contributions

What's your definition(s) of "You pay for it yourself, or go without"?

 

You are right, but wrong. The 9th and 10th amendment overwrote the general welfare. Anyways, general welfare is roads etc, not taking money from me to give to you personally.

 

Why is the government running it at all. Are we not adults responsible for our own lives?

 

Two out of three ain't bad. A and B are verboten. C is not government, so it is up to the employer to decide.
Please be aware I am a libertarian, and the government that governs least, governs best.

 

You are correct. It is the most overused phrase and with it the way it is being applied, just throw away the rest of the document. That part has been repealed by the 9th,10th,13th, and 14th amendments.

 

a. I think society should have a set of safety nets for the serious tragic cases and government -- local, state, or maybe even federal -- can have some role here. The trick is to keep it limited if possible.

b. Taxes are a separate and complex issue. If you change the entire federal tax system to, say, one flat rate with a high exemption and no personal deductions, I suppose that would work. But my main reaction here is, again, not taxing something is not the same as providing a subsidy. Though it might be a help; if government has to help the serious needy with a safety net, not taxing the income the needy use to pay medical expenses seems a simple logical and easy thing to do.

c. employer contribution to medical costs is fungible with salary and wages and plays no part in the cost to society for medical treatment. They are no more of a subsidy than the employee's paycheck is.

 

No money should ever be taken to be given directly, It creates corruption and theft.

 

Taxes or subsidies are all the same thing. Where does the money for either come from? Remember, the government has no income of it's own, only your and my money.

 

And as I just noted above. The money comes from somewhere for government to give free this or that, as the government has little income of its own. For someone to get welfare, they have to take money from you and me to give it to someone else.

 

Like everything, it's probably a little bit of both.

Of course that's not really an opinion since it doesn't say anything about how much of each.

If it were up to me, my inclination would be to try to get government to focus on the cheap stuff, and preventative medical treatments that are likely to help reduce overall costs in the future. Maybe the use of vouchers so if some people don't like the government service they can be reimbursed for 90% of that cost in a private medical setting.

 

Question - is Mob extortion of individuals the responsibility of the Gov't or personal responsibility ? and why ?

 

Both. Govt does have an obligation to help with programs like Medicaid, Medicare. But we, the people, also need to do our part. We need to take advantage of preventative services and trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Unfortunately many Americans are lazy disgusting people. Obesity is costing us BILLIONS in healthcare costs. But hey...as long as we get to supersize that McDonalds order and wash that down with a gallon of ice cream it’s all good.

 

That is called a society. It is beneficial to the general populace to not have people dying on the streets of starvation and disease. I am fine with my taxes, and I pay quite a bit, going to help others. What I am not ok with is it being stolen by big corporations, defense contractors, government bureaucracy, waste and fraud.

 

clarify please.

 

whats the difference where it is going? It is stolen from you and that is the end of that. All taxes should be voluntary PERIOD. That way, I can vote government with my dollars. They want to waste my dollars stolen from me for such things as foreign aid, then I don't give them the money to do it.

By the way, if you are fine paying taxes, how about paying my 50K a year average, stolen from me to be used on such crap as illegal aliens.

 

I pay my own bills, I have no debt and don't leach off of the system that I have not paid for in advance. You should do the same. I had two wives die of cancer. Not a single dollar did I get from the government to pay for it.