We could give a rat's @ss if you want to kill yourself. Go for it. Just don't ask the rest of us to pay for your "health" once it starts to go in the toilet.
When considering "Health Care" benefits, the issue comes down to who "deserves" what care?
If someone smokes and drinks and then needs oxygen and medications and liver transplants should the rest of the taxpayers or company employees pay for it?
No one has ever or will ever make it illegal for you to abuse yourself. It is your right. Just take responsibility for your actions.
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I guess people who drive poorly (even for the conditions, not speed limit) and get in a wreck should not get long term expensive care if they end up with brain damage or spinal cord injuries -- OR -- someone who walks carelessly on ice and ends up the same way -- just like people who ride horses, play football, jump blindly into the old "swimmin'' hole, hike on rocky terain, etc., etc.
How 'bout those who don't check their house for Radon and "irresponsibly" get lung cancer -- or -- kids who get serious conditions from lead poisoning because their parents didn't have the house checked and "remediated" for lead paint --or -- don't get checked from head to toe every day and get crippling Lyme disease -- and on and on -- and on.
(believe me, I could go on for pages and pages about everyday "irresponsible" things people do -- like talking on cell phones when walking or driving)
Pick the simple examples YOU decided, with a simplistic mind set, and it's easy to point fingers.
Sounds like you support the Nanny State. I wonder what you'd think when "they come for you" and say you don't DESERVE medical care because of what you did or didn't do.
Not sure what a "nanny state" state is but humans, like many species, seem to have an altruistic need to help one another. Its a nice thing. Knowledge, however, is fluid, and final knowledge takes time. Ideas are postulated and tested and reformatted until a clear consensus evolves. In the meantime humans like to share what they know (think: schools, taverns, chat rooms, books, radio, etc.). The mark of an intelligent man is when he can admit that what he previously held true is not, and he can adjust his thinking.
As for the rest of your comment it comes extremely close to why health care reform will be so difficult. Who is responsible for what? What part of healthcare, if any, should be considered a "right" and which a "privilege"?
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