[Info-vax] [Totally OT] Covid-19, was: Re: Creating an open source version of VMS, was: Re: OpenVMS Hobbyist Notification

[IanD]

On Saturday, March 14, 2020 at 6:47:20 PM UTC+11, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:

<snip>

> 
> Maybe the USA will probably wake up and smell the coffee and realize 
> that tens of millions of people without health insurance is not a good 
> idea at any time, and can lead to a massive death toll---including some 
> insured people---under the present circumstances.  Maybe Bernie will win 
> after all.
>  

The American system is broken because there is no transparency to the point where buyers cannot easily shop and compare services. I've seen studies that show it's impossible to obtain a full quote for a major procedure up-front

The notion of a government looking after you depends on whether you think the State is a de-facto 'Mummy and Daddy' who needs to look after you after you've left home and meant to be all grown up or not. For some this parental notion is hard to shake off

There is no benevolence in government, only fools believe in such a notion

It does however make sense to provide for basic healthcare in a general population, especially if you want to maintain a reasonable level of population health

How that is achieved and fairly done across a broad range of age and needs is the difficult part. The young don't need much and are better off being allowed to put their resources into building their future wealth, the older, need more healthcare
 
Australia's healthcare system does a fairly reasonable job at keeping a balance between public and private healthcare

The public system tends to look after essentials and is accessible to all and you are 'encouraged' to have private cover if you want more personalised healthcare such as your own specialists and private hospital admission. 

The 'encouragement' to have private cover also comes in the form of being hit with up to an additional tax of up to 1.5% of your income if you do not have private healthcare and earn above a certain amount. 
It's meant to drive those who can afford it towards private cover to reduce the demand on the public system

The public system has longer waiting times and will not cover cosmetic surgery and other non-essential items

In Australia the healthcare funds have to publish their monthly cost and all the conditions of what is covered with that service and any limits involved. It makes it very easy to compare funds and there are plenty of sites cross-comparing. Even the government has a private healthcare comparison site

<snip>
 
> 
> Like a lightning rod on a church, if this isn't an admission on the part 
> of the faithful that there is no God, then I don't know what is.

What a fallacious argument or was it an attempt at humor?

It falls flat for a number of reasons

1. The premise is wrong, a Church is the people, not a building
2. I highly doubt most church buildings have a lightning rod, they wouldn't meet the minimum height
3. For buildings that are large enough for a lightning rod, those entering wouldn't be giving it any thought about any lightning protection
4. By your reasoning, I take it you wear a seat belt because you have no faith in the air-bag ? Perhaps only those who have no faith in air-bags need to have seat-belts fitted in their vehicles then?