A scenario for those in favor of national health care?

Question

Two people need a heart transplant right away. Only one heart is available. One is a man who due to his busy scedule can not eat right, thus has fast food way to much. He is very succesful thus pays a lot of money in to the national healthcare system. The other is a little girl whose parents had a prior healthcare plan but dropped it for the national free plan to put more money in to their little girls college fund. Who gets the heart under your plan?

If the little girl gets it then why on earth should this business man have even been forced to pay in to this system. You are basically saying he should pay for someone elses life at the expense of his own.

If you choose the business man how can you deny a little girl the chance to live. To have a life, to make something of herself.

Finally why one Earth do you want the federal government a group of the most corrupt people in the nation making ethical decisions like that. You know this will have to be in some federal guidelines.

I know we have a donor list, but that is not the question. The question is if one person pays in to this system, how can they be denied for someone who does not.

Again I know we have a Doner's list. The key issue to this question once again is should someone who does not pay in to the system be included in it.

It won't I will admit that, but if were in charge the man who raped her would be worked 20 hours a day. Every dime he makes would go to pay for her treatments, everything he owns would go to her to help pay for treatments, if that was still not enough he would be organs would be sold for money

Answer 1

Playing the Devils advocate I see. Good question. Flip a coin!!

But in our current system you only get the heart if you can afford it or have the insurance.

Answer 2

Ah, Grasshopper...you have several assumptions that don't compute. The first is that nobody is talking about HEALTH CARE....the issue is HEALTH INSURANCE. There will be no government hospitals or clinics and medical people will not be working for the federal government. UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE will be almost exactly like any other kind of health insurance with the exception that all Americans will be covered and doctors and hospital will get paid via a single payer system. The overall overhead will be less because Medicare and the various Medicade systems will be no more. Less tax money per person will be collected because more people will be paying in. The overhead of profit, lobbying and high salaries will also be removed from the equation. Everyone will pay in, as they do now either directly or indirectly, but everyone will pay less. The service will not be 'free' as you suggest, but the costs will be shared out as in any other insurance plan. Ferinstance...if you have a current private plan and pay in $4,000 a year and you don't get sick, they don't give you back your money. But if you do get sick, your bills will be covered....something that many health insurance companies now tend to fuss over, putting profit above service. Again, none of this will be 'free', there will be a co-pay and probably a deductable because that's how insurance usually works. In other word, nothing will be different under UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE except that the system will be designed to cover your legitimate bills, not designed to maximize profit. As far as your example, it's always been the first heart that matches the first patient gets treated. Hopefully in the future there will a way to grow compatable hearts instead of relying on cadavers. UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE will replace the current hit and miss system......have no fear....this will work!

Answer 3

Ummm, dear, this is already the system in place pretty much....just like McDonalds, transplants are first come first serve.....whomever has been on the list longer getst the organ.....thats how it works. A national health plan means that the little girl can go to the doctor to find out that she needs a new heart. She can go to the pharmacy to get the meds that will keep her current heart as healthy as possible until a new one can be found.......all we are asking for is equality.......do you deny that the child, the elderly, the anyman/woman is not entitled to the same basic health care that is afforded those who have more money? Would those same rules apply to emergency services, education, etc? Do only wealthy people get to have these things or shouldn't all people have the basics? If you want to/can pay extra for extra services, great, get the nongeneric drugs, get private education, live in a crime free area, but don't take away public education, generic drugs, and basic emergency services for those who cannot pay!

Answer 4

A national healthcare system is as Jim has pointed out for the good of everyone, even your own donor system allegedly does not take into account who you are and how much money you have, your are a number on a waiting list and also awaiting the the right match.

Your attitude though is typical American, your obsession with money to make you think that someone who has none has less right to healthcare is sickening, I find it incredible that Americans try to defend their system of healthcare when it is the majority of them that are being ripped off by the greedy profiteering insurance companies, people who are following the American dream by working for themselves are struggling to pay insurance premiums or in most cases are unable to afford insurance and just pray to god they will never need it, some dream, more like a frigging nightmare!!!

America has some of the best hospitals and treatment centers in the world, but ask yourself this, why are you 37th on the list of the world healthcare rankings just above all the third world countries, or are they just out to get you as well!!!

Answer 5

Your scenario is not likely to occur because it is unlikely that the girl and the man will have the same blood type and be able to use the same size heart anyway(i.e. with the man being bigger). It depends on the blood type of the heart donor and the heart size. Whoever is most well matched to it should get it.

You say why deny the little girl the chance to grow up and make something of herself? By giving her the heart, there's no guarantee that she won't get hit by a car at 12 or just plain not do jack with her life when she grows up. She could die before adulthood of other causes. And she could just plain become a cog in the wheel like the majority of people and never do anything interesting with her life.

You say why should the man pay for a system that he doesn't get to use and pay for someone else's life at the expense of his own? Money is only one type of investing. If he had invested in his body and left the fried foods, cigarettes and whatever else he is messing with alone, then maybe he would not be in this situation. If he doesn't care about his health, then why should we?

That being said, I'd give the heart to whoever was most matched to it with regards to blood type and size. Anything else is playing God.

Also, you say that the government is corrupt and having them run this system is asking for it. The majority of people are either corrupt or lemmings. Private businesses are crooked and corrupt. At least with the government, things are more "public" and there are checks and balances and standards to be met.

Answer 6

This is simple:

Giving the problems with a heart transplant (infection risks, size of the heart to be transplanted, etc) then the decision would already be made by the heart itself. A little girl could not really recieve a adult heart and vice versa. So let's start with that..... whoever fits the profile for the donated heat would get it. It would have nothing to do with politics or economics.

Answer 7

You mix the parameters.
His nutriment habits influence his "social" charge in
a perfect system, i.e. if you are a chronical case denying
the advice of your physicist over a long time, you will be
charged higher for the same insurance covering hearts
like from an assembly line, yes so marvellous it will be,

Unlike now that you'd be on tie anyway, then after weeks
of panic call a Simple-Office company in Hongkong that
sends you a ticket to Columbia where you are treated
swiftly but with no warranty - total costs 90,000 bucks.

Answer 8

As is the case now the heart will go to the patient who is
a. a more suitable match
b. in more critical need.
c. geographically close enough to transplant the organ in time

Either way - whether someone's health insurance is private of public will not change this.
The difference is that after theyboth get a heart the little girl gets to go to college - and you seem to be saying that is a bad thing???
Every developed nation on Earth has tackled this problem and made it work (they all have guaranteed health care, all have better life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and child mortality than the US) and all have significantly cheaper health care. Why do you hate America so much as to believe we are incapable of tackling issues other countries have overcome?

Answer 9

First you don't have a name on the list you have a number.
The person who matches the heart best that is next on the list.
You can't just buy parts in the USA.
If you make that much money you can go to a country that allows body parts for sale.

This is how it is now so nothing would be changed.

Answer 10

Different question...

My friend got raped and contracted HPV which caused her to develope cervical cancer. She has no insurance and now is considered pre diagnosed, so even if he gets insured now, they won't cover it.

How is the current health care system better for her than a national plan that would ensure her survial?

Answer 11

er... do conservatives EVER have ANY CLUE about ANYTHING they talk about?

IN THE US WE HAVE A DONOR LIST.... YOU JUST DON'T "BUY" A HEART....

in other words... you have the EXACT SAME senario could just as easily take place here... and has almost NOTHING to do with socialized or unsocialized healthcare...

who do you think makes the decisions in the U.S. now?

http://www.organtransplants.org/understanding/unos/

EDIT: there are only so many organs... NO MATTER WHAT MEDICAL SYSTEM WE CHOOSE... it will always be the same problem and will always most likely be decided by a team of doctors at the hospital.... just as I think it is now...