Originally Posted by djplong

No need to quote the Constitution at me - I'm VERY well versed in it. If you put a gun to my head and wanted me to name a personal "hero", I'd respond with Thomas Jefferson and I'm glad that John Adams is finally getting his historical due.

You said you paid your own way in the 1980s. You certainly couldn't do that now. If you were in the same situation now as back then, I don't think you would have gotten those exams.

Around that time, my ex-wife and I had to come up with $10/mo for her birth control - as an example. It boggles my mind that my 22-year-old daughter has to pay several times that price now. The CPI says it should cost around $20/mo. But inflation, when it comes to medicine just doesn't follow the CPI in this country.

A night in the emergency room in Montreal 7 years ago had a list price of $500 (of which I had to pay $50). The same services in the hospital here in New Hampshire are more than 5 times that.

Now, if you want to argue that the bill slithering it's way through Congress is unconstitutional, well, you have an argument there. But I had some eye-opening experiences while working for a hospital (back room operations - in what you now call "IT" we called "MIS" back then).

Yes, I will be right up front and admit that I have a hard time reconciling my "you have a right to make as good a living as possible" attitude with my "sick people shouldn't be considered a growth industry" feelings. The two often clash.