Libertarian Argues Against Obamacare, Says You Should Diagnose Your Own Illnesses

The caller should have just said, "I don't know what I'm talking about, but I have decided I know how this should all work."

So, this is basically what happened...
Caller: Hi, I'm a non-crazy libertarian.
Sam: Start talking. We'll see about that.

Sam misses a major point here. What the guy is basically saying is that we would be more careful as to which medical tests we got if the money came out of our own pocket. The problem with that is that without medical tests, illnesses go undiagnosed and you end up paying twice as much which is precisely why the US has the highest healthcare costs in the world.

Market forces virtually never decrease costs! whenever a sector is privatized the costs always go up! you can see that time and time again with the Conservative party privatizations of the eighties and nineties of British Gas the water industry and British rail and the buses.

dude sam you SHRED these guys so hard, i do not get how they are so obsessed with principles and yet breaking all of them or most by living in society RIGHT NOW and then arguing that they dont understand how they are doing that it is crazy thanks for posting these sam.

The government should be as big as it needs to be to do what ppl want?? Lol that's insane and vile. Government is meant to protect our rights. The issue there is by the people he means majority, or the 51%, which means the majority can vote themselves power over the 49%. Rights don't matter at that point. Your right to own your own labor and your own property that you freely earn is no longer relevant. This isn't bizarre philosophy by nut cases, or corporations, it's in our founding documents written by men like Thomas Jefferson.

Healthcare Rationing: I go to a therapist because I deal with depression and bi-polar disorder, I'd go once a week. it was really the only outlet to have someone to talk to openly who would help me. after a while my insurance company said I can only go two times a month instead of 4. My therapist told me that they wanted to take it down to once a month so had to actually bargain with them by telling them the therapy keeps me out of the hospital which would cost them more money, they agreed, so they allowed me to go two times a week. so here I am trying to get help and my insurance company is just treating me like I'm a burden to them trying to limit the help they can provide for me to save money. how can anyone think that's okay? how can you honestly think that's a good system? that's profits before people, that's immoral and it's wrong.

I hate it when healthy people who apparently have never had a medical catastrophe happen try to tell us what healthcare system is best. Wow! The ego! We've tried it the free market way, we've tried the HMO way and Insurance for everybody way. We need a system that answers 2 basic questions - will the system prevent any US citizen from bankruptcy? and - will the system ensure no one gets sick and dies due to lack of coverage? Obamacare answers one, but not the other. The other systems answered none. So when you opinionize a system try asking someone who's been through it to see if would have helped them.

hahaha, man that one was a treat. Ideology and talking points fall apart pretty quickly when you barely know what you're about. At least the guy could be reasoned with to an extent.

I actually quit smoking when I went on medicare. Before it was all on me but when someone else is flipping the bill you better believe I'm eating right, exercising, and quiting vices like smoking and drinking.

I don't like that cancer example. If you get cancer, you are paying a price, whether you have insurance, pay for it yourself, or the govt does. The price for cancer is much higher than just the financial costs. Obviously a person who has never known someone dealing with cancer. Ignorance or immaturity I don't know, but he should not use that example if he wants to make the point. If you aren't scared of cancer, the fear of financial costs is not going to deter you.

Lol does he particularly only select stupid callers? Cuz this isn't the Libertarian position on healthcare. Accessibility isn't the issue, the extreme prices are. Well-educated libertarians will discuss how much more affordable it would be with less government. And there's literal examples of it as well. Being free of bureaucracy and corporate monopolies that were formed around healthcare and health insurance. The position isn't "well fuck it, ur gonna die." That's what the ignorant statist assumes if the government isn't there to take care of people. The libertarian position is that government has done more harm then good, and Obamacare prices the poor out of the market, forcing them into a really sub-par healthcare plan. Only rich liberal's like Sam Seder just say, "hey, at least the poor have something. Those evil libertarians just don't care as much as I do."

I'm 67 and live near small river, when young you couldn't go near it, you smell it from are home. After EPA started businesses up stream was forced to clean up there acts. NOW people swim in river, raft, and fish.

insurance companies use market forces when it comes to negotiating prices, they can go to a hospital and say I have one million customers so if you want my business you will charge me XYZ for procedure ABC.....

He is confusing individuals with individual buying power negotiating for prices as opposed to a group of individuals. In the individual case the hospital has more leverage and in the case of the group the group suddenly has a lot of leverage. These are both market forces, the caller identifies one of them as a market force and not the other......

Medical care isn't like buying a car and I wish people would try to stop doing that.....

did you ever get that pain in your ass checked out?

I don't get how spending ridiculous sums of money on the military makes us more safe. Our allies such as Japan can just get off the hook for not paying for their own military because the US will support them. Why would the EU pay for their military when the US can do it for them?

Sam Seder you are great. Just love his show. All the best from the UK.

There must be some point at which a Libertarian decides to switch to the derp side. Some point at which they look at Stevie Mollybollocks and instead of seeing a baldy rat faced sociopath spouting lies and deception he transmutes into the source of absolute truth. What is the cause of the degradation that is their deadtime in the Libertarian zone? Often times they manage to escape afterwards but like a kid with a ripped arsehole who got free of the Jenkins basement they tend not to talk about it afterwards.
Ex Libertarians please tell us what the danger factors are for someone who might fall for the bullshit?

This caller is a IDIOT! He needs to read a book!

Sam you missed an opportunity what if you have a doctor bill of 300 thousand and you only 1000 in your account then you die or go bankrupt.