That health insurance, like many other things, is like a car or a home? If you have the money to get it, you can buy it yourself.
I know that this is a very simplistic way to view it, but health insurance isn't a "Right". No one is entitled to health insurance. I have compassion for the above described woman's circumstances. Not only does she have health issues, but she's in debt that will be with her for the rest of her life.
~Jeordam
either health coverage is a basic human right, or else we can go back to the days when the ER turned you away because you either didn't belong to the hospital's insurance group or didn't have the means to pay your bill. if you make less than $12,000 per year in florida, you do not qualify for the federal subsidy to get your own insurance. this is why the woman in the article has so much debt, because she does not make enough to get her own insurance, and her state has decided she should just die rather than risk her benefiting from something passed by democrats at the federal level.
what it comes down to is that we all pay for other people to be covered one way or another. we do not all pay for someone to drive or have a home, and it's not exactly a public health issue for either of those scenarios. but if you get sick and can't afford to see a doctor because you don't have insurance, you are going to get everyone else sick you come into contact with. or if you contract a disease for which ongoing medical attention is required, you are going to wind up in the scenario as the lady in this article and hoping that you can count on the kindness of strangers on the internet to help you pay your bills, because you will never make enough money in your lifetime to pay off the debt you incurred because you are represented by a bunch of heartless bastards.
"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman