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Comment by taivare | Hacker News Reader

I worked with a waitress , whom died from a bad tooth . She wasn't able to receive care due to being working poor. I was thinking just today our system of health care is a regressive tax on the poor. a single payer system would be progressive taxation for the wealthy , if they needed extra value medical services , big deal they could afford it . They could afford to go to walled gardens ; for exclusive care. I shouldn't be to harsh , after all they support the Luxury economy !

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Dentists have a code of ethics just as any other doctor. Any legitimate dentist would have cared for the patient since it was an emergency situation. Most, again legitimate, dentists would have worked with the patient to write it off or do the work pro bono. They're humans like the rest of us and many of them care for their patients deeply. There are those that ruin the reputation for the upstanding, but that doesn't represent dentists as a whole. I think you're conflating two exclusive ideas here. Keep in mind dentistry is one of the few areas of practice in the United States that will provide estimates up front, prior to treatment. Dentists are one of the easier areas of health care to "shop" comparatively.

It's not necessarily that simple.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02...

All-on-one-page "Print" link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02...

You're right about all of that, but think about it from the perspective of a poor person who has never been to the dentist, who likely wasn't taught good oral hygiene as a child, and whose teeth have been a source of nothing but pain and stress for years. If she knew a dentist well enough to feel comfortable having the "I'd like to pay on time" conversation, she would have that conversation. If she had ever been to a dentist, she might know a dentist that well. If her teeth weren't a mess already, she might feel comfortable calling for a first appointment. None of those circumstances apply, however.

You are turning this discussion into a political debate for what reason?

because he is pissed-off and wealthy people are such an easy-to-blame-for-it-all target these days.

forget that everybody is responsible for their own health. rich are just pure evil, right? :)

I say this as I sit in a waiting room facing a root canal I can't afford. I have good teeth, and take care of them. A tooth I had filled 7 months ago seems to be senitive and sore. I have health insurance but doesn't cover dental. Dentists are expensive!

Sorry but your argument is too easy. Taxation or lack of it would be directly why some people have tons of money and why other people don't have life saving services. Wealthy people are in part to blame for the system just as the tax system is. Blaming poor people? That's low.

Fact, money equals speech, wealthy have more speech and thus more control over government and taxation. More speech, more control, more blame.

you are claiming that "rich people" don't pay taxes but this is mostly a false claim. It's the effective rate that they can bring down. Warren Buffet pays millions in taxes, for example.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/23/warren-buffe...

Yes, we are all aware he pays millions. Proportional to income, I pay more taxes than Warren. With that, the crux of the problem presents.

I never claimed rich don't pay taxes. Nothing short of you putting words in my mouth makes me doubt the validity of this interaction because A. you simply don't know better, or B. You are purposefully manipulating my meaning. With either case, I can safely conclude there is no point in continuing because you are trolling, or dumb.

This comment breaks the HN guidelines. Please remain civil when posting here, even when you think someone else is wrong.

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That horrid Obama Care does cover routine dental care.

In know in CA, if you qualify for medi-cal, you have more options than in the past.

According to this site, it does not: http://obamacarefacts.com/dental-insurance/dental-insurance/

"Dental insurance, for the most part, isn’t covered under ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act)...

"Even with cost assistance, when you reach the maximum,you typically pay 100% of the costs for dental work. This is the opposite of health insurance under the ACA where you pay 0% after your maximum.

"Dental works best for routine care, it is uncommon to find any insurance that covers major dental work past a certain dollar amount. ('The Dental Gap'?)

Here's a news story in which someone died due to a tooth infection: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/insurance-24-year-dies-toothach...

"When dentists told him it needed to be pulled, he decided to forgo the procedure, because he was unemployed and had no health insurance...

"When his face started swelling and his head began to ache, Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medications. Willis couldn't afford both, so he chose the pain medications.

"The tooth infection spread, causing his brain to swell. He died Tuesday"

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