Universal Health Care: Because You’re Worth It
03.26.2010A few months ago my TV told me something that has quite possibly become my favorite product tagline ever. Whilst L’Oréal women tossed their hair to and fro in the shimmering light of the photo room, the British, always-sophisticated accent reached out to me with this final bold, convincing statement that absolutely sealed the deal: “Because you’re worth it.”
That’s right! I’m worth it! I’m worth L’Oréal beauty product and nobody can take that away from me. What else must I need for convincing? Why buy anything else? I’m going bold with L’Oréal and never coming back because I’m worth it.
But that’s not all. This morning my TV once again reminded me I’m worth it. CNN, America’s most trusted news source, interviewed a man in his 50s-ish who decided he was healthy enough to play the odds without health insurance. That’s not just my assessment; he literally acknowledged he was playing the odds. Good for him. Soon enough, he found out he had a cancerous growth in his neck and the operations to remove it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fortunately for him, he found a charitable organization that allowed him to get the operations he needed to remove the cancer. In the end, it cost the man $50,000 and the rest was paid on his behalf. What would he have done if that charitable organization did not exist? Poignant to rip the tears right out of my eyes, he, with some help from the reporter, finished up the interview with his delight that the health care bill passed because nobody should be placed in his situation–everyone deserves health care. Everyone deserves it. You deserve it. I deserve it. He deserves it. Because we’re all worth it.
Does a gambler deserve to be reimbursed for gambling his life’s savings away? Then why does this man, or anyone like this man, deserve (to have earned or merited) health care? For the mere act of breathing sweet air into his lungs? According to the reporter, this man was able to, and did, pay the $50,000 required of him. If he could pay $50,000, he could afford insurance. As Dennis Miller put it so plainly, “I want to help the helpless, but I could care less about the clueless.”
I feel bad the guy got cancer. I don’t feel bad he’s out $50,000. If you’re prepared to gamble, you better be prepared to lose.
Tags: deserve it, insurance, L'Oreal, pre-existing condition, universal health care, worth it
I heard a woman on the radio this morning say that 51% of the nation is on socialized healthcare already, anyway, through Medicare and Medicaid and there is no debate about that. Apples and oranges, I say. No one’s going to fine your grandma if she elects to not use Medicare. No one’s going to require you or your employer to pay for the “privilege” of not using Medicaid.