Personal responsibility

I'm big on this. Maybe it was how I was raised but also the result of experiences that made me believe that I had to do for myself and relying on others often had unpleasant consequences. Like Barry Goldwater said, 'a government strong enough to give you everything is also strong enough to take away everything you have'. Or something like that.

Take my knitting. If I go out and buy the yarn, I can't expect anyone else to do the project for me. If I'm slack, as I have been on the socks, then it'll be my fault that I don't get done by Christmas. All of which leads me to a story about a woman who because she was moved to part time lost her health benefits from work. She then gets a cough and doesn't go to a doc. Self medicates and all that. At some point she finally goes for help. But here's the tragic part. She dies because it's really some lung disease and although the paperwork for Medicare was filed, since it's the government it was too late.

The comments to the article are a smorgasbord of whining and calls for universal health care. What's missing in all this is what did the 34 year old woman do to help herself? Did she disconnect her cable or sat TV? Clip coupons? What was more important to her--her health or her luxuries? I don't know what her situation was. The article does not indicate if she tried to get insurance or not on her own. But this brings me back to the personal responsibility thing.
It is a fact that a young person can get basic health insurance for around $100 per month. But when polled those informed of this said they'd rather party, go out to eat and the like. One cheeky woman bragged that she uses health departments and never pays for anything. She's right of course. She's probably not paying even in taxes. But someone is. A gainfully employed neighbor or relative. That's a big problem with that age group. The same age group that probably voted for Obama. Clueless and stupid. And their stupidity is going to cost us all dearly but that's another subject. One poster said this is why we must have universal health coverage. No it's not. What is needed is for people to take responsibility for their own health. Insurance is available. You just may not be able to get that 60 inch flatscreen like you want. You may even need to cut back on partying or eating out. Do I feel sorry for the woman who died. Until I know the whole story I can't say. But if her death was the result of bad decisions she made the answer is no. And none of us should have to suffer for those decisions by the implementation of government health care.