He may have overstated the case a bit, but the question of whether "freedom" for some, means that poor people can't get medical care -- that's a valid question. Do we, as a society, have a moral obligation to ensure access to basic medical care?
That looks like a consequence of regulatory overreach....
Actually, they are just as free to go out and earn money and get their own damned medical care. The taxes I have paid paid for them, but so did the bills I paid out of pocket. Seven dollars for an aspirin? Really? I think that might have bought someone else a percocet or two.
It might have been far cheaper to establish means-tested 'free' clinics (not even necessarily a medical clinic, but a couple of hours of flat rate physician time a day) for the sniffles and clear the ERs of Medicaid patients and those who could only get health CARE by going to the ER, where they might wait a while, but would get served--only at greater expense.
No one is allowed to just bleed out in an ER because they can't find an insurance card. If you collapse with chest pains, you move to the head of the line. That's the way it worked.
Those who could get medicaid did.
It's simple, don't make much and divest yourself of all but 10K of assets.
At my age, nevermind. I have greatgrandkids, and assets I worked my entire life for which I won't chuck to sign up for another government program. so whatever my income may drop to in a bad year, Medicaid is out. Not old enough for medicare, so that isn't an option, and I will spend 28K a year keeping the lights, heat, food in the cupboards, etc. before i spend it on something I MIGHT need, but would have a 14K deductible anyway. Fuhgeddaboutit.
Without a requirement for me to have the stuff, I wouldn't look twice--and it would not be marketable. I'm just less scared of the possibility of being handed a bill--or the penalty--than
knowing I'd spend 2/3 of last years "income" pulled from savings to buy something I am unlikely to use.
If someone else wants more, they can damned well get out and earn it.
If it is a kid with Cancer call St Judes. Open a GoFundMe, there are many people out there, myself included who have donated to help folks who have been hit with unusual maladies or medical costs. But it is no longer a gift when it is required, when it is pulled from my pocket at gunpoint to hand to someone else, no matter how much they might be seen as deserving.
I can't give if the government takes it. Which not only robs me of my money, but the ability to perform acts of Christian charity as well.