BASIC HEALTH CARE

When the government wants to provide health care to everyone as an entilement we have to consider what the government can afford to provide. At one end of the spectrum, there is Basic Health Care and at the other end there is extreme health care.

Consider nursing home care for the elderly. It would be nice to give each elderly person in need of assistance a luxury condo with catered meals, a housekeeper and medical services available. But can we affdord that. Perhaps the best that the government can do is provide basic care, a comfortable room, meals and needed medical assistance.

Next, we might consider "needed medical assistance." Emergency care is certainly needed but would extreme care like intertalization be an entitlement. Woud a heart transplant or organ transplant that at best would extend live (with pain) for a year or so be an entitlement.

In our capitalistic, democratic society we are entitled to spend what we earn for our own welfare. We are also expected to pay taxes to the government to provide basic needs. (Soc Sec Retirement, Education through grade 12, "insurance" to cover basic needs, etc.) This welfare entitlement can not exceed what we can afford.

Abuses in the "entitlement benefits" have helped to cause the crisis we now have. The fact that over extention aid to other countries, wars, etc have been a far greater cause of the crisis does not excuse us from curbing the abuses and paring entitlements to a level that we can afford.

One of the major abuses to consider are the retirement benefits of public servants that have been increased legally but unethically far beyond the intended limits. Another major abuse would be the policemen and firemen who double their adequate wages with exorbitant overtime.

We are a very generous and tolerant people but we have been exploited beyond our means and we must consider "what we can afford" in making our decisions.