> -----Original Message----- > From: brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com [mailto:brin-l-boun...@mccmedia.com] On > Behalf Of Warren Ockrassa > Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 10:55 PM > To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion > Subject: Re: Why not discuss the topic? > > On Jul 17, 2009, at 8:07 PM, dsummersmi...@comcast.net wrote: > > > There are arguements for the free market. My Congressman wants a free > > market solution, and I respect him because he doesn't pretend facts > > don't > > exist. > > But we have free market solutions. We've had them for decades. And for > many, those solutions don't work.
Agreed. But, where he and I agree and where a John would disagree is that a free market can be shaped by the laws within which it resides. For example, if you required insurance companies to accept pre-existing conditions, you would get rid of one of the major problems with the present system. If you got rid of the strong incentives for hospitals to refuse admissions and for insurance companies to deny claims, then aspects of the market can be helpful. For example, our local grocery store has a cheap clinic in it; with minimal overhead and total cost for minor problems (including those that would be major if left untreated). My son had a staff infection that could have killed him if left untreated, and the total cost of treatment without insurance was $60.00 (we have insurance with a modest per person deductable he didn't reach). > The idea of insurance is that a large number of people pool their > resources together to lighten the burden of loss for a few. (This is, > in essence, socialism.) I wouldn't call it socialism, because it is pooling resources voluntarily because any one of those who pooled it could be the unlucky guy/gal. I bet, if you knew you'd never get in an accident and if it wasn't required, you'd be far less likely to pay 2500/year for car insurance just to help those who do get into accidents. >It's also a very > Christian concept, for those who are of that mind. "Inasmuch as ye do > it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me.") That's a different concept...it's about helping folks who need it. In fact, Jesus directly compared this to helping those who you know will be in a position to help you later. I'll give you a personal example of this. When we took in a teenager who was thrown out of the house by her drug addict mom and was living in a used car her grandfather had given her (I'd say a quarter step above homelessness), we didnt do it because we thought we or our kids would be homeless. We did it because, as Christians, we felt called to do so. (And I am not saying that the non-Christians on the list wouldn't do this....I'd just say that they'd have a parallel feel for the moral requirement to do so). Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
