Normalizing for car accidents does not mean you don't count car accidents, it just means you seek to get useful information about the relative health care of accident victims on a per capita basis. For the most useful statistical analysis this should be done in all cases where health care related statistics can be influenced by variables not dependent on the health care system of the country in question.
In the same way that the US's average age of death might increase if we properly normalize for high accident rates, some other country might benefit if we normalize out child sacrifice or what have you.
That's not to say the raw, unnormalized data is not useful. It is important to recognize the impact that America's violent crime, its dependence on the automobile, and its unhealthy lifestyle choices has on its average lifespan, but this information only tells us about those cultural variables, and it tells us nothing about the quality of the health care system which is what we are interested in.
Here's a person who gets it.
that's a terrible example.
look, I can do it too: well, since we all require oxygen to breathe, we might as well regulate and tax the use of it. does oxygen not affect our health?
Thanks for missing the point. My point was to show how ridiculous this can get.
health care means the ability to live and be taken care of no different than any other person. it's as basic as an issue can get. and it's something that every nation should provide for its people in so far as ensuring that virtually no one is without access with equality.
I love how folks preach about equality, but yet they want to punish those who have succeeded to care for many of those who just let their lives slip into crap. I'm not saying all of the uncovered are that way by their own faults, but many are and there is a HUGE number of uncovered who can pay but don't. Statistics have shown that about 2/3 of all uncovered either can afford to pay or qualify for free programs but fail to sign up. Why should I give a rat's behind about them?
ah!
this method of thinking is so uniquely American, I don't get it.
why are we so selfish?
Selfish? No, it is more about personal responsibility, something of which many folks don't understand, including you, obviously.
it's about a human responsibility to take care of each other.
you "don't feel" like it's your duty to make sure someone has access to decent health care, but that person would do it for you! and someone else would do it for them. this is why people in other parts of the world laugh at our health care debate.
I could care less what other countries think about our health care or debate. Human responsibility? The buck starts when a person's health directly affects another's, such as in the spread of communicable diseases and viruses. It need go no further than that.
in other countries, they argue about how to maintain funding for their health care program by looking for ways to improve the system. but at least it's their, for everyone, they walk out of the hospital without visiting a cashier.
Why is it so important to have this for everyone? Why not make the free care accessible to those who need it? Matter of fact, many states and counties already have free care for those who cannot afford coverage. You would rather put this all in the hands of the Federal Government by removing it from the state and local levels. Bravo!
in our country, there's at least a pretty loud portion of our citizens that are ok with leaving people in desperation in their own backyard. we can't even agree how to better cover the individuals that ARE covered. meanwhile, free health clinics in California and Detroit draw thousands upon thousands of people who are unable to get the care they need otherwise.
these clinics cannot even afford to see everyone who turned out. this is the kind of stuff we normally do in like... Somalia.
Leaving people in despair at the levels seen in places like Somalia? Now I know you've lost those last three marbles.
lol, but it doesn't have to work that way!
you just said, you'd put up with paying for that person at the doctors cash register.
so why wouldn't you put up with paying for that person in a way that is reciprocal? you covered them, because that person and everyone else has your ass covered.
It is because the free market fluctuates and I have options that I most likely will not see with this new system. Yeah, you're damned right it's about me; it's about all of us Americans,not just the ones who do not have coverage. Maybe you have not kept up on this issue, but the health care plans as proposed affect every American in one way or another, and not necessarily for the better. Get off your high horse, minister.
hey, whatever helps you sleep.
No bullsh1t, do YOU lose sleep over it?
Yes, I realize land was only for whites, but that wasn't really what I was getting at. 
