Aielyn said:
Oh, I agree - it's absurd that Americans have to pay for private health insurance rather than having a public option. Here in Australia, everyone is covered by public health care, and then you can buy private health care to extend coverage to optional things, to get reduction in costs when going to private hospitals (public hospitals are covered by public health care), etc. It is absurd that companies have to pay for health care... but until you Americans grow up and realise that public health care is actually cheaper for the government than private health care (don't believe me? Look at per capita health care spending by government in America and Australia), and that public health care is not socialism or communism, you're stuck with it. In the meantime, you're speaking as though the corporation is like the government in the analogy. It's NOT. The corporation is the equivalent of the person, the health insurance company is the equivalent of the government and the individual is the equivalent of the public. Corporations have to pay for things they don't support all the time, just like individuals do. As it has been so perfectly pointed out before, corporations seem to be getting all of the perks of personhood, with none of the responsibilities. Being a citizen means that you have to pay for things the government does that you don't support. Being a corporation means that you have to pay for things your employees do that you don't support. Not all things, of course, but certain specific things that you are legally required to pay for. And privately-owned companies are the equivalent of private citizens (as opposed to public figures) - are you suggesting that only famous people should be bound by laws? If not, then you've missed the point of the analogy entirely. |
First off, I am not American.
Second off, I FULLY support a nationalized health care system ala NHS. Forcing private corpration to provide medical insurance is a shitty healthcare system.
No that that is out of the way:
Where does it say corprations get none of the responsibilites? Does a corpration not pay tax like a person? Does a corpration not obey laws? Does a corpration not have the right to use the justice system to contest laws it feels are unfair?
And the analogy that private corprations=private citizens is ludicrous. My statement meant that a publicly owned company can be influenced by the purchase of shares whereas a private own cannot.
The government forces you to pay tax because like it or not, you are a citizen of that government and in a democracy a government has a mandate from the people to manage the country and the forced payment of income tax is something people have agreed on via a representive vote by the public representatives.
There is no equivalnce that company=person, medical insurance company= government and employees= public.
A medical insurance company is a for profit organization, not a government, a company is not a citizen of a medical insurance company and employees are not a voting bloc of the medical insurance company that allow to extract a "tax" from a private indivdual. They do not vote and are not citizens. The analogy is flawed at it's very core and does not work to further your argument.
