[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

"Wasn't that the case before Obamacare?"

According to liberals, yes.

You believe that, before Obamacare, liberals thought healthcare was available to those who couldn't secure it for themselves and that huge numbers of poor people were not dying in the streets because they didn't have healthcare? Wonder, if that was the case, why they created Obamacare.

"If you believe that being an American means all Americans should be provided the same product by private businesses regardless of whether or not they can afford to pay for it"

I didn't say anything close to that. I don't think I'm entitled to the same "stuff" (house, yacht, Cadillac health plan) that a wealthy CEO can buy for himself. Not everyone has the right to a private suite at Johns Hopkins or the Mayo Clinic, just as not everyone has the right to drive a Lexus and have a house on Nantucket. But according to my personal beliefs, everyone has the right to some minimum level of care and security.

Again, wasn't that minimum level of care available to everyone before Obamacare?

"then you believe in socialism" I sure don't believe in pure libertarianism. I think we all have an obligation to provide a safety net to those who can't secure it for themselves. Is that a degree of socialism? Yep. Does that make me a socialist** like Bernie Sanders? Nope.

Again, didn't we have the healthcare safety net before Obamacare?

** for the sake of this argument, let's forget he owns three homes, proving that he's not even remotely the socialist he claims to be