Here's a story to scare you straight... In one of the lands where there is "free" healthcare for all, Australia, a family is being denied permanent residency because their 13-year-old son has Downs Syndrome.
True, these are immigrants from Germany. But also true, the head of household, Bernhard Moeller, is a doctor who moved to the country two years ago to assist with a shortage of doctors in rural communities. Now the governement is asking the Moellers to move along because their son has been ruled to not meet the "health requirement."
The Associated Press reports the story, including the Moellers' case that their son contributes to the community in many ways, but the root issue here is the government's ruling on who and what are considered to be burdens on society. As the United States raises up leaders with leanings toward universal health care, we need to ensure that their beneficent platitudes do not become mired in judgements about who is worth an investment from the community chest. When the broken are told they're not worth it, what kind of a society are we?
We've fought wars against those who have made these kind of judgments, do we really want to be one of them?
Comments