The coronavirus makes the case for universal health care and paid sick leave

I've made the case, only somewhat facetiously, that conservatives should be in favor of universal health care because they don't want to have to step over dead bodies on their way to the opera.

Pandemics don't discriminate. Joe Rich Guy can catch it when the help coughs on the silverware. No one's immune. 

If people can get themselves checked out without having to worry about whether they can pay for a doctor visit, fewer people will spread the disease. If more people stay home and don't go to work when they're sick, fewer people will spread the disease--that would happen to a greater extent if more people had paid sick leave. 

Conservatives, rejoice! You don't have to exhibit any compassion or care for your fellow man. You should be in favor of universal health care and paid sick leave precisely because those things benefit you. (Parenthetically, I don't know why Cons are so adamant about preventing people from obtaining health care--especially since that's starting to cost them votes.)

There's nothing like a pandemic to teach Cons that we're actually all in the same boat and what affects one affects all. I'm sure our country's billionaires are busy scheming how they can get rich off of the coronavirus, and they'll probably manage to do exactly that, but maybe the welfare of the people and the common good will come into play as well (like hell--the rich will benefit and the non-rich will get screwed somehow.)

I would like to see any vaccine that is developed be distributed to all citizens free of charge, but that would be SOOOOOOCIALISM, wouldn't it?

Poor old DonDiego doesn't much care for the opera.  However, he does enjoy a good symphony.

Kevin.Your using common sense and logic. Your flogging a dead horse here."They" won't understand a word of this.

Here is a story that went viral the other day. In a nutshell, a Flordia man had traveled to China a month ago and was having flu-like symptoms after his return. He decided it would be best to report to the hospital. The hospital sealed him off in a room and spoke to him via white suites. They told him they were going to give him a CT scan. The guy asked, can't I get a flu test before you do all of that.  His flu test came up positive. They discharged him and shortly thereafter he got a bill for $3,270 and the hospital says the treating physician hasn't sent his bill yet. 

This story went viral on Facebook and the lesson learned by those millions of people is if you show signs of a respiratory infection try over the counter stuff first otherwise you are going to get sodomized for $4-5k in medical bills assuming the best-case outcome.   

Link

Our for-profit healthcare system will lead to the spread of the virus and a higher mortality rate if the outbreak becomes widespread. 

A CT scan for flu-like symptoms????  

Yes, it is how they diagnose the coronavirus in the US given Trump's CDC has run out of test kits. They look for the droplets in your lungs. Oh, and to be clear, they didn't give this guy a CT scan. They followed his request and give him the flu test first. That was his bill without a CT scan. 

Maybe Trump shouldn't have fired the Pandemic response team in 2018 and cut the CDC's budget?