[benmmurphy]

> it’s pretty inhuman as a society to leave people to suffer and die because they can’t afford healthcare.

this is mostly about drawing a line between the tradeoffs of costs and the benefits of increased lifespan and better quality of life. almost no-one actually believes all of societies resources should be committed to healthcare to achieve some small marginal health gain. claiming people are inhuman because they want to draw the line differently is messed up.

[d1sxeyes]

That’s a fair point. But whether a person lives or dies should not be a function of their income.

The NHS for example today doesn’t spend infinite resources on any individual. In some cases, the decision is that the cost of treatment is not justified by the benefit.

Whether someone is a smoker is a factor in that decision: how much longer they may live, their expected quality of life. Also their lifestyle is taken into consideration when determining the order of a transplant list, etc.

But the decision is never made based on their ability to pay.