I'm a nurse and in school to be a nurse practitioner. I see a lot of the good and bad of the healthcare system, and believe me I've seen enough freeloaders who throw away their health and then get outrageously expensive care on the taxpayers' dime to build up a bit of ire. For all those who don't want to be forced to buy health insurance, who is going to cover you when you need care? All of us get old, all of us will need care. It will usually be much more expensive when we're elderly. Anyway, I get what you're all saying, you value your freedom, there are lots of people wasting lots of money in our system.
BUT. This country's system completely allows even responsible adults, young or old, to be left entirely screwed. Last fall, for a comparative health policy class, we read a book on health care in America compared with various other countries. It detailed the story of a young woman who developed lupus, then lost her job due to the condition and the excessive use of sick days, then of course lost her insurance because it had been through her employer, then couldn't get more insurance due to that pre-existing condition and her lack of income. She ended up dying within a few years, due to complications that could have been prevented had she been able to afford regular care. She wasn't stupid, or lazy, or coddled. She was unlucky in a system that rewards the lucky.
Yes, if you are actively dying you can get treatment at a hospital. But by the time you get to that point, it's often too late. There are many stories of abuse of the system, but there are others like that young woman who didn't deserve to die in the way she did. Just had to add in a different point of view. It's a complex issue that doesn't work well when reduced to blanket statements.
