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Right to healthcare

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
Does anyone realize that in the future, it may be possible to extend life another 50 years?

My question is, are we prepared to pay unproductive citizens health care expenses for that long to the tune of millions of dollars?
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Does anyone realize that in the future, it may be possible to extend life another 50 years?

My question is, are we prepared to pay unproductive citizens health care expenses for that long to the tune of millions of dollars?
According to cellular clock theory, the maximum human life span would be about 120 years. (I wish I could explain this, but since I'm a psych major and not biology major I'm probably gonna have to look into that on my own.)
But the obvious solution is simply that we have to start over from the ground up. People are living longer, but a longer life so far hasn't really increased to amount of time that someone can remain a productive member of society. Plenty of senior citizens function just fine in their daily lives, but cognitive and physical capabilities begin a sharper decline at about the age 80-85. So if one retires at 70, they have about 15, maybe 20 years before daily life might start to become very difficult, and if the leading theories are true, up to another 30 years of probably being dependent to a degree on a care taker.
You can't look at the issue as about being about money, but rather it's an issue of the fact that we have got people to live longer, but the body still wears out and other than proper diet, exercise, and genes we haven't got people to age slower.
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
Does anyone realize that in the future, it may be possible to extend life another 50 years?

My question is, are we prepared to pay unproductive citizens health care expenses for that long to the tune of millions of dollars?

Perhaps we could put little red indicator lights on everyones left hand to activate when they reach the point of being an unproductive citizen and a burden on society.
logan.jpg


Logan's Run - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:eek:
 

tomato1236

Ninja Master
Perhaps we could put little red indicator lights on everyones left hand to activate when they reach the point of being an unproductive citizen and a burden on society.
logan.jpg


Logan's Run - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:eek:

A) there's a difference between requiring people to pay for services rendered and sending out agents to kill people of a certain age.

B) Apparently they're doing a remake of Logan's Run! And closer to the book, which I haven't read. There's a movie I'll go see.
 

Kungfuzed

Student Nurse
So maybe people should have the right to basic healthcare services but not procedures or medications as expensive as a lambo. That opens up a whole can of worms about rationing healthcare, which is already done through supply and demand. I saw an article once, don't remember when or where, that talked about how to calculate the worth of a human life in US dollars based on what an insurance company was willing to pay under certain circumstances. Something to do with utilitarian philosophy.
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
So maybe people should have the right to basic healthcare services but not procedures or medications as expensive as a lambo. That opens up a whole can of worms about rationing healthcare, which is already done through supply and demand. I saw an article once, don't remember when or where, that talked about how to calculate the worth of a human life in US dollars based on what an insurance company was willing to pay under certain circumstances. Something to do with utilitarian philosophy.

This issue will come up in the future when medical technology improves. When we can get replacement organs easily and it becomes more common place, the expense will be great, but a person could extend their life quite a bit.

I would rather retire at 60 and live to be 75 instead of working till 70 and living a mundane life till 90 or beyond.
 

dmitri

New Member
Healthcare could and should be a right but many things would need to be drastically changed before it could ever happen ( at least in the United States). More importantly preventive healthcare is needed. An adult on medicaid or medicare does not get dental coverage resulting in decay and loss of teeth which in turn leads to inability to eat more nutritious foods which leads to poorer health more doctors office visits and higher costs to the system. The way the government has looked at it is that it is cheaper to treat a terminally ill person even though the treatments are very expensive bc the person won't live long compared to treating a person preventively bc that allows a person to be healthier and so they live a longer life.

The biggest thing driving up the cost of healthcare in America is the greed of insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. If doctors would go back to finding the problem and treating it rather than throwing medicine at the symptoms then costs would go down. If you pay a roofer to fix a leak on your roof and it still leaks you can refuse to pay because he didn't do what he was hired for but if you go to a doctor and he doesn't fix your problem you still are obligated to pay him. That is why they have started labeling symptoms as diseases so that they can say they diagnosed you with this illness and there is no real cure, just treatments and adjustments to your diet ( acid reflux, irrital bowel syndrome, restless leg syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, just to name a few). Each of these are symptoms of a deeper issue but they have been classified as diseases and each require the patient to maintain a lifetime regimen of prescription medicine. Fybromyalgia is another one. And when the doctors say you will have to take these meds the rest of your life and you run out you have to go back in for an office visit just for them to write another prescription. Why can't they just call it in rather than you having to pay a useless visit when it is a lifelong treatment?
Of course greed overrides the desire to help people live a healthier, happier more productive life.
 

Smoke

Done here.
I think people have a right to healthcare. The tribe would have looked after them in the past. Nations have replaced tribes. So, I think nations now have an obligation to look after their members.

I like your answer better than what I was going to say, so I think I'll just say I agree with you. :)
 
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