[thereitgoes456]

Sadly we do not have, and will never have, the resources to help everyone, even to a baseline of human dignity. Surely we can't give people unlimited talk therapy, MRIs, and cancer treatment for free. But some people sorely need these things.

Preventative/propylactic care is orders of magnitude cheaper than treatment once a disease has manifested. It makes sense to me to punish people for not doing this care, thereby choosing to impose more strain on an already overburdened system.

Note that GP only mentioned things we have control over -- exercise, weight, not smoking. Of course I agree that it would be cruel to disadvantage pre-existing conditions.

[johnnyanmac]

That's the point of insurance. It's the idea that everyone pools together money and when something bad happens to one person, its finances are mitigated by the input of others. Some will benefit more and others benefit not at all. But no one can predict who is on what end.

Yes, if everyone gets cancer at the same time then Health Care is boned. But then again, so is society. So why worry about that worst case scenario?

>Note that GP only mentioned things we have control over -- exercise, weight, not smoking.

We couldn't pass laws to help control what companies put in food, and failed to subsidize healthier food options. I wish you the best of luck with healthcare trying to pull off that endeavor with punishments for obesity. I'm guessing it wouldn't be poolitically popular.

[clcaev]

> Sadly we do not have, and will never have, the resources to help everyone, even to a baseline of human dignity.

This is really a matter of choice. There is a level of treatment that most people could have with far less friction. We just have decided to organize our economy otherwise.

Broadly, we need to stop seeing our economy as a zero sum game. It's dehumanizing. So what if there are a few bad actors that abuse the situation? Most don't. If everyone is doing something harmful, eg smoking, then we need strong public education, etc.

[idiotsecant]

Since when do we not have the resources? Nearly every developed country on earth manages it ok.

[mlrtime]

Does every other country have a boarder that "allows" millions of people in every year? These EU countries are tightening hard on immigration as they have found that it crushes their social nets. Not to mention keeping defense spending adequate relative to allies.

If this was so easy, what is the plan?