Scott Adams wades into the fray with the latest Dilbert
(dilbert.com)
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The issue is complicated but my take goes like this: despite some unfortunate "interpretations" over the years in supreme court rulings, providing healthcare is not one of the limited functions of the US federal government outlined in our constitution. To do so would require a constitutional amendment.
If a state wants to enact a program providing healthcare for its citizens then that is a different question.
But second is the practical reason. I don't want to pay for illegals, period. We already are forced to pay for their emergency room care, public schooling and free lunches and other welfare programs, and indirectly through uninsured driver premiums since most of them drive without licenses and insurance. If we had public healthcare bleeding hearts would keep pushing sympathetic edge cases until it covered every border jumper.
Third if I'm paying for someone's healthcare I get to legislate their lifestyle. Why should I pay for someone who is fat and lazy and doesn't exercise, why should I pay to keep alive a premature baby whose mother who did drugs while pregnant? And why should I pay for some old person who is over 80, drank all his life and wants a liver transplant?
We will always have rationing and hard decisions to make, because healthcare is an unlimited want but we have limited resources. The question is who gets to make them? I don't trust government to do that, they can't even deliver the mail. I would rather individuals make their own choices and if some of them make bad choices or get unlucky then so be it, that is life.
That's the thing - if you have socialized ANYTHING, you have to make sure that it's for your citizens only (including properly vetted immigrants who have gained their citizenship, with, perhaps limited services for landed immigrants pending theirs.)
What really started to throw a fuck into our system was the Singh Decision of 1984 (made possible only because of the change in constitution a few years before). Because of that, anyone who merely sets foot on Canadian soil, regardless of anything, can claim "free" health care (despite signs one might see in hospitals/offices about foreigner fees.) Living on the border, the hospital my mom worked at saw an almost immediate uptick in Americans whose friends had dumped them in local parks for to be picked up by police (it was illegal to be in parks after about 10 PM, and the cops DID patrol), who would take them to hospital, where social services would be called because no money.)
I wouldn't say things are as bad as some detractors say it is, but it depends on where you are, I guess. The hospital here isn't exactly overcrowded (though I have seen it very busy during a 6 week stay, and the ICU is ... very noisy) and I must say that its surgeons are quite skilled. That being said, I'm glad I wasn't living in, say, Toronto.