22 thoughts on “Stephen Hawking”

  1. The assumption that Hawking won’t get better care from NHS, than Bert the chimney sweep, is foolish. That NHS hs a vested interest in keeping well, Hawking, MPs and such high profile people is a no brainer.

    Here’s an idea, if you want that kind of heath plan, MOVE!!

  2. Steve: nice rhetoric there, except Hawking fell ill in his late teens and was diagnosed when he was 21, quite a long time before there was any vested interest in keeping a, then, relatively mediocre physics student around.

    His high profile came much much later. He didn’t really come to mass popular attention until A Brief History of Time when he’d already been ill for almost 20 years.

  3. http://www.kayak2u.com/blog/?p=924

    She resents the fact that, after paying a lifetime of contributions to the National Health Service, they were offered such meager help when the need arose. She is very aware that if her husband had been an unknown physics teacher he would now be living out his final days in a residential home.

  4. Wow Titus, I’d say that was a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out on a 3-2 pitch.

  5. To those who think that private insurance and government insurance is the same, consider this: with private insurance, you can sue if you’re denied care. Under the principle of sovereign immunity, you can only sue the government if the government gives permission. Surprisingly enough, the government doesn’t grant that permission very often.

  6. Except the original claim was “NHS would let Hawking die.” So now we”ve gone to “they don’t pay enough for nursing care?”

    Easy to hit a grand slam if they move the outfield fence in.

  7. I prefer the TPM reporting of this.

    I never thought I’d see a commenter whose endorsement could actually hurt TPM’s credibility. It always goes the other way.

    Until now.

  8. So now we”ve gone to “they don’t pay enough for nursing care?”

    Without which he would have died.

  9. with private insurance, you can sue if you’re denied care.

    Do you guys THINK about this stuff before you post it?

    Seriously? You have Terminal n stage cancer and you’re refused an expensive treatment that may or may not work, and in your last few months on earth you get to sue a large private company with lots of lawyers….

    And this is somehow preferable to not being able to sue the government?

  10. If you have Terminal n stage cancer, you’re going to die. You few good healthcare options.

    But if you’re healthy and you see that your private insurance company doesn’t provide for adequate treatment of sick people, you (and your employer) have the option to go elsewhere.

    If you’re healthy and you see that your government health care doesn’t provide for adequate treatment of sick people, you have to move to another country, or overthrow the government.

  11. Sean – the problem is that, in the current system, you don’t find out if your insurance is adequate until you get sick. Put “recission” in your Google.

    or overthrow the government. What about an election?

  12. What about an election?

    As Daniel Hannan points out, once a public health-care system is put in place, it tends to become politically untouchable, no matter how bad the individual horror stories (see Social Security, Medicare), like most programs that benefit the many at the expense of the few. That’s why it’s important to make a stand now to prevent it from being put into place.

  13. What about an election?

    Well, elections are won by 51% of the populace. All that public system has to do is satisfy 51% of the people. Let’s say they only make 20% of the people unhappy. That’s not enough to bother them. But if we had portable, private insurance, and a company made 20% of it’s customers so unhappy they left, it’s stock price would drop so fast the CEO’s golden parachute would barely have time to open before his butt hit the asphalt. Plus I can sue an insurance company. But the government? Only if it says I can.

    (Can you see that I also want health insurance reform?)

    Freely won elections are a fantastic replacement for freely fired bullets. But freely won elections are a horrible replacement for freely won contracts. You think I want to belong to a union just because 51% of my fellow workers vote for one?

    I’ll take freedom over a mere election anytime.

    Yours,
    Tom

  14. I’ll take freedom over a mere election anytime.

    A point that “Democrats” don’t understand. The founders gave us (as Franklin famously said) a Republic, if we could keep it. They’re doing everything they can to destroy it.

  15. Hey, Rand, the Democrats won in November. As far as their leaders are concerned, that means they’ve won every election before and every election yet to come. Which is why they’re trying to “rule” (as opposed to “govern”) accordingly.

    I think a lot more people than just the Republicans are looking forward to next November.

  16. As Daniel Hannan points out, once a public health-care system is put in place, it tends to become politically untouchable…

    Once people become dependent upon the government for their medical care, the final culmination of power is pure endgame, a mop-up.

  17. the problem is that, in the current system, you don’t find out if your insurance is adequate until you get sick. Put “recission” in your Google.

    Chris – I sure know how good my insurance is. If you don’t know about yours, you’re not trying very hard.

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