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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

People Without Health Insurance Live In Fear

So says Democrat candidate for Governor of North Dakota Tim Mathern:

We all know that people who do not have health insurance live in fear. They may have to go into debt to pay for health care or forgo medical care altogether.

But, what many people don’t realize is that a lack of health insurance can also result in premature death.

A new report by Families USA found that between 2000 and 2006, 200 people in North Dakota between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely because of a lack of health insurance.

I find it rather hard to believe that, with all the variables that make up an individuals health profile, that a simple lack of health insurance can be singled out as the cause of death for those 200 people.  But even if it’s true (and I doubt that it is) we’re talking about 33 people a year in a state of 635,000 people.

Certainly nobody likes death, but that’s a rather small number compared to the rest of the world.

Mathern suggests in his editorial that he will address the issue of insurance for the uninsured if he is elected Governor.  But I ask you this: Do we want a solution to this problem that is worse than the problem itself?

Liberals like Mathern are quite fond of government-mandated and/or government-run health care.  Yet we routinely hear of horror stories from people living in such systems from all over the world.  We hear of people in Canada who must come to America to get their brain tumors treated in a timely fashion.  We hear of people in Great Britain forced to travel to other countries to get orthopedic surgeries.  We hear of people in Sweden forced to wait years for procedures like gall bladder removals.

I’ll not argue that the health care system in America is perfect, but do we really want to drag the quality of care in America down to the lowest common denominator just to extend coverage to the scant minority that can’t afford it?  The vast majority of North Dakotans, and Americans in general, enjoy plentiful access to health care.  Why leverage that situation to solve a problem that isn’t much of a problem to begin with?  I think most Americans would rather take their chances in a free market health care system than be tied to a government-run system that, while universal in access, may be worse overall coverage than what we’re getting now.

As Thomas Jefferson once said, it is better to attend to the problems of too much freedom than the problems of too little.

Comments

Tim is a typical “Hysterian.”

Kevin on April 16, 2008 at 09:08 am

When I was fresh out of college and worked at a job that didn’t provide me with health insurance, I lived in fear, too - fear of one day getting married, having kids, and getting a job where I’d feel compelled to buy health insurance, and thereby wasting all my beer money on withheld insurance premiums, that is…

sonofasillyperson on April 16, 2008 at 10:15 am
Rob
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Better to fear the lack of health insurance than to fear paying into a government program that provides horrible service.


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

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Rob on April 16, 2008 at 10:19 am
Avatar for Toronto life insurance broker

I think whole “died because of lack of health insurance” is complete nonsense. How much is “enough” health insurance? We have to realise this society is not able to pay maximal possible health care to everybody, just beacause there is not enough resources! Only question is to divide, who will get more and who less. Does anybody have better system than money? If yes pls present it!
I am talking from the “other side” because I am Canada life insurance agent and we have public health system, anyway about 30% of expenses is covered privately…

Avatar for HG

There isn’t a hospital in America that would refuse to treat a medical emergency or one that is terminally ill regardless of thier inability to pay.  Nobody dies from a lack of health insurance anyways, they die because aren’t healthy. The treatment may have saved them, but it sure as hell didn’t kill them. 

The only thing people may fear is made up stories like this one that intend to scare people out of freedom and into gov’t health care.  Why do you liberals hate freedom so much?  Why are you so opposed to choice in healthcare?

HG on April 16, 2008 at 02:48 pm

Why do you liberals hate freedom so much?

The liberal elite, like Tim, are control freaks; they know what best for you.
He studied in the ivy league, dontcha know?

Kevin on April 16, 2008 at 03:18 pm

A buddy of mine graduated college and was cut off from his parents health plan and do you know what happened to him then, he was forced to look for a good job that provided benefits like health insurance. Isnt that a good thing for everyone involved?

A.Patriot on April 16, 2008 at 03:58 pm
Avatar for Tim Mathern

I believe each life has intrinsic worth and that is why I am running for governor. Senator Tim Mathern

Tim Mathern on April 16, 2008 at 09:40 pm

I’ll not argue that the health care system in America is perfect…

Good. It’s far from idealistic.

The democrats and their beloved system of jurisprudence has seen to that.


“To love is not to stare steadfast at one another...it is to look forward, in the same direction.”
Saint-Exupéry

laydownSally on April 16, 2008 at 10:18 pm

I believe each life has intrinsic worth and that is why I am running for governor. Senator Tim Mathern

So, you are running on the pro-life platform?

Kevin on April 17, 2008 at 07:42 am
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