Sad day in the USA

Thinking about how sad it is in the USA today that we provide free medical care for all these folks who have never worked a day in there life, but when it comes to the elderly who have worked everyday of their life can't even get their prescription medications or have to pay out large amounts just to get a little bit of medical coverage. Although the free medical care we provide to non working baby making machines, I call it the American Express Card that we provide to the folks who have never worked really isn't free you and I pay for their free medical care. I would rather pay for my parents medical care then for someone who comes in saying I don't have tylenol or motrin at home for my kids while pointing their newly put on fingernails or calling on their cell phones or having that pack of ciggs in their pockets, when my parents who have worked all their lives and should be living the best days of their life won't even turn on the air in their home because of the cost and not being able to afford medical care or medications!! If they had to pay a nice co-pay for non-emergancy visits to the ER then we could really see the people who really need emergancy care. Sorry just venting and wondering how everyone else feels about this sitution??

I lived out of the back of my truck for years, trying to put cash away for school, and I did it (with the help of friends whom I traded work/cooking/babysitting/housework/construction for showers, etc while I was also working full time at two jobs). I got really sick of peanut butter and jelly. But you know what? Now I'm a nurse, and I have this awesome superpower- it's called saving money. I'm lucky I had any kind of support network, people who would give me a hot shower and pay me to help them out because they saw I was working my butt off.

It used to kill me when people would come to my clinic and balk at paying $12 for birth control pills but they'd tote their Coach purses and show off their diamond earrings, while I was eating leftovers. What does $12 cover? A movie for one? I think OCPs provide more than one night of fun, anyway. And a pap cost maybe $20. You should have heard the complaints.
Part of it is the instant gratification culture we live in.

On a public health level, people *should* have basic access to healthcare- it's called preventative, medicine. We keep people generally healthy to ensure the health of the population (ie vaccinations, etc). Americans in general are not used to having to wait for anything. How long is your hold time on the phone with the bank? How long do you wait for your coffee order before you get annoyed?
Same with healthcare. What's your standard? What should be the standard? Should we have a standard?

And for those who argue it's a right (I'm not arguing for or against, I'm just posing a question)....

If it's a right, is it a natural right? How so?
What kind of right is it?

We all want to restructure a broken system, but what is that new structure?
And I live in California, where the system is really in hot debate.
With an estimate of $11 billion going to "illegal immigrants" I wonder what the solution is... many of those undocumented people subsidize our cheap food via hard labor in conditions that most people would avoid like the plague. Go stand outside in Bakersfield in the summer for one hour with no water and then think about it. Should we require big Agriculture to provide a temp work visa healthcare access? Is it the fault of the state, of ICE, of the various larger corporations? Who is responsible?

Those are my questions. Ok, End rant.

Thinking about how sad it is in the USA today that we provide free medical care for all these folks who have never worked a day in there life, but when it comes to the elderly who have worked everyday of their life can't even get their prescription medications or have to pay out large amounts just to get a little bit of medical coverage.

No, we need to attack our population/demand problem from the other end: Let the baby-making machines have one child, two at the very most - then, it's automatic sterilization right after the birth of the second child.

If anyone has a "feeling of entitlement" right now, it's you! Look at the tone of your post and how you referred to basic human rights/needs in quotation marks. I'm guessing you HAVE health insurance. Are you going to school full time and working full time to keep a roof over your head or are you getting help and support from a parent or spouse? If so then you don't have much room to resent people for getting public assistance. A lot of posters on this thread seem to think that they're better or more deserving than other people and I don't know where that's coming from.

I know there are people who don't care, who take advantage of the system. But if not for that, they'd find some other way to act like scumbags. And you are going to have to pay taxes no matter what- if they take Medicaid away it's not like they're gonna give the extra money back to you so you can get your flat screen TV or trip to Hawaii... they'll just take it and spend it on something sketchy.

Those are needs, not rights, and proper health is also a need.

Man That was harsh! I went to school and I still had to beg for any kind of help for 4 years.

Well, when there is so much talk about rationing healthcare, even potentially initiating a "duty to die" for our elderly, I have a bigtime problem with the baby-making machines. No, we need to attack our population/demand problem from the other end: Let the baby-making machines have one child, two at the very most - then, it's automatic sterilization right after the birth of the second child.

I know that sounds a bit Nazi-like, but I think it's much more practical than hastening the deaths of our elderly.