Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to I've watched this discussion...

On safety nets
TB — (archived)

I am not usually opposed to government programs that help people in emergency situations.

For example, if someone proposed a targeted government health insurance system to supply transient coverage for the non-poor uninsured, or coverage to people on disability or who are temporarily unemployed, I would not have a problem with it. Particularly if it's understood to be a temporary situation. In theory Medicaid is supposed to be doing this for the poor, and Medicare for the elderly (although I think Medicare benefits should be means-tested to some extent).

What this latest law was was a blatant attempt to haul people into permanent government health care who shouldn't need it, simply to increase the dependency of the population.

One of the things wrong with Social Security is that it stopped being a last resort and started being a retirement program. This kind of "drift" seems to be common with this sort of thing.

It's the difference between a safety net and a hammock.

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