[ExI] Transhumanism and Politics

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Jan 25, 2008 8:02 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 24, 2008 9:51 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> > ### If the same old fallacies show up over and over again, what is the
> > informed person to do? Almost everybody in the US has access to
> > medical care of superior quality. Most uninsured can afford insurance
> > but choose not to do so. A serious medical condition is less likely to
> > bankrupt a family in the US than in most other countries. Why are
> > these simple facts so frequently denied?
> >
>
> Heh! :)   I see Rafal has popped in from his personal parallel universe.
>
> In *his* USA there are no poor or disabled people struggling to survive.
> If there are any, and they choose to buy food instead of medical
> insurance, it's their own fault, so let them die if that's their
> choice. But they get superior quality free medical care anyway, so
> it's still not a problem. No worries!
>
> Sure, the rich people live long and healthily in the US, but Rafal has
> obviously never seen Michael Moore's film 'Sicko'.  But he will
> probably dismiss that as lies and propaganda. Similarly Rafal will
> probably dismiss the WHO statistics that put the US health services
> way down the league table of nations. Similarly with the WHO measures
> of average life expectancy, etc.
>
> Rafal's view of the world is so strange that I don't really see a
> point of contact where discussion might begin.

### If you see Mr Moore's opus as a reliable source of information
about US health care, it's no surprise you dismiss the truth when you
hear it. Poor people in the US struggle for more cable channels, not
to survive. It's obesity that's the major killer of the poor, not
hunger. Everybody can use EMTALA to obtain emergency care. Do you even
know what is EMTALA? Everybody is either eligible for Medicaid, state
Medicaid, Medicare, or they have insurance, or they have savings (once
your savings run out you are eligible for Medicaid, or Medicare), or
they can get charitable care. Thus everybody in the US, even illegal
immigrants, have access to medical care. The US is spending for health
care more per person on the poor than the average EU country is
spending on the fully insured. Etc, etc.

You could begin the discussion by linking to the statistics you mention.

Listening to Mr Moore on health care is like trying to learn about
climate change from Ann Coulter.

Rafal