Look I don't need to keep repeating myself, but if you think you have a "right" to healthcare you are a clown. You cannot distinguish between a natural (also called negative) right (life, liberty, and property), and a "positive right", which is simply an entitlement. You simply by existing do not have any "right" to the fruits of my labor or the labor of anyone else.
Natural rights are based on outlining what others cannot do to you. Namely, no one has the right to harm or kill you, no one has the right deprive you of liberty, and no one is allowed to claim your property, without due process of law. These are fundamental rights established during the enlightenment (Locke), and upon which the US Constitution is based.
What about eminent domain? You buy property, you own it, yet the government can take it whenever they want if they deem it "for the greater good".
This is in stark contrast to entitlements, which promote the idea that you have a "right" to the property of another person, in order to serve your own ends. Let me state it again, you have no right to health care, just as you have no right to obligate a doctor or a hospital to pay for you. You have no "right" to obligate taxpayers to pay for you, you are simply a deadbeat.
Such a flawed way of thinking, its like you refuse to read or acknowledge half the shit that has been posted in this thread. You even said it yourself, other countries pay higher taxes to cover the cost of healthcare. If that is done you do have the right to healthcare. No one in here is claiming to sit on their ass and expect healthcare, but what I (and others surely agree) expect is not to be denied healthcare because of preexisting conditions. Furthermore, and this is a sad fact of today, you can make healthcare payments until the cows come home, but if an insurance company deems you've used too much of their healthcare, they can cancel your plan or refuse to continue paying for it, even if you made timely payments your entire life. That is fucking insane and immoral.
This extends to college-education as well, just as you have no right to health care, you have no right to have your college education paid for either. You cannot obligate anyone to pay for you simply for having a pulse. You have no right to food, or maybe we should make supermarkets free too? Everyone needs food, right?
This is where I think you are missing a few important brain cells. Has anyone said they expect free education in this thread? Anywhere? I'll make it easy for you because you seem like a slow learner, the answer is no. What has been suggested is that we the tax payers pay higher tax in order to lower the cost of tuition. How can you think that is us saying we want free education? Jesus man you scare me with your reading comprehension.
These areas are filled by charity and government-run soup kitchens. Not because of any right to basic necessities, but because charities can choose to aid the needy, and governments can decide to provide certain benefits to their citizens. Don't confuse benefits and rights.
Health care is an immensely expensive benefit to provide, and would require the requisitioning of people's property (money) to pay for. This policy creates a massive net drain on the public treasury, when the public treasury is already deep in the red. It's perfectly acceptable to question giving up my property to provide a benefit to those who have not earned it. This, as a whole, brings the middle class closer to poverty, while providing the poor with an entitlement that they can exploit.
Hmmm I wonder why the treasury is so in the red. Maybe its because of our insanely over inflated defense budget? Could it be impart to the housing crash that moved many from the middle class to the lower class? Think about how many people pay for healthcare that they never use, or use rarely. What happened to helping thy neighbor? You seem like a very selfish person if you refuse to allocate even a minuscule portion of your own wealth to help someone that might actually need it more than you. Many Americans currently can't even afford healthcare, impart because of the minimum wage (though I wont get into that). But you continue to ignore the argument of preexisting conditions and that fact that many Americans are already denied coverage because they are already sick. That is so ass-backwards its disgusting.
quote]However, I'm actually in favor of some form of socialized medicine, but not the kind Sanders envisions. There should be basic community clinics to serve the needs of Medicaid patients, because they should not be in the same hospital that I pay a hefty bill each month to go to. Unfortunately, if people do not pay into the system, they should not receive the same level of care as they do not deserve it.[/quote]
I'm all for this. I think Obamacare is a failure and a poorly thought out bill with good intentions. There should be a basic level of healthcare EVERYONE can receive, if you want to pay more for better treatment, fine thats your own obligation, but everyone in this country deserves some basic form of treatment and shouldn't be denied coverage because they are already sick or injured.
But keep bleeding your heat out in fantasy land until you find out about the real world, and about how the distribution of scarce resources actually functions.
I think quite a few of us challenging you are out in the real world already.
Oh, by the way, the government does control the student-loan market, here's your link. And that "outrageous" 4.66% is quite low, especially for a fixed loan. A thirty year fixed currently averages slight above 5%. Additionally, the interest on those loans goes to fund Pell Grants for underprivileged students, isn't that what socialists are all about?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2013/05/20/student-loan-market-private-investment/2325261/
Well in my experience with federal loans the government doesn't lend out nearly what is required. I applied for 1 federal loan and received a quarter of what I needed for tuition. Where is the rest supposed to come from if you don't have that cash in pocket? The only option you can turn to is private lenders. I am surprised how much of the market is supplied by federal loans, but the stat that is missing is the percentage of tuition that is covered by those loans.
