« first day    last day (16 days later) » 

user76284
user76284
01:37
@JochenGlueck It's the truth. If you don't like being corrected, don't be incorrect.
This site has become a dump.
This site has become a dump.
02:13
@user76284 Yes it is true. It is also irrelevant; why are you trying to derail the discussion with such red herrings?
@user76284 And healthcare is very much free, in the same sense that taking a walk around the block is free. Of course the sidewalk you are walking on is paid by taxes, yours and/or others'. That doesn't make it any less free to go for a walk.
@Skeith There is also the much, much greater odds of getting sued to bankruptcy by your student. Or any person you interact with, really.
Jochen Glueck
Jochen Glueck
@user76284: Claiming that "health care is free in UK" is not incorrect by any standards of how the word "free" is typically used: whenever this word is applied to goods or services, it means that "the person who gets the good or uses the service is not required to directly pay for it". It never means that nobody at all pays the bill, because somebody always has to pay.

"Buy one, get one free" doesn't mean that the second piece pops out of nowhere without consuming work or ressources for its production. It simply means that you as a consumer can get two pieces today or the price you'd usual…
user76284
user76284
03:25
@Thissitehasbecomeadump. It's not irrelevant at all.
@JochenGlueck Yes it is. Unlike your hotdog example, the cost falls directly and involuntarily (through taxation) on the same population using the service.
Why not stop being wrong and use the term "tax-funded"?
The only reason I can think of would be that you're trying to obscure, disguise, or hide the fact that healthcare is paid for by the people who use it, through taxes.
 
6 hours later…
Jochen Glueck
Jochen Glueck
09:10
@user76284:
In fact, I have no objection at all against the word "tax-funded". As you can see above, I used the wording "funded by taxes" several times. I'm also not the one who first used the word "free" to describe it - I'm only the one who pointed out that this usage of the word "free" is completely in line with how the word is used on most other occasions when the context is financial or economical.
No problem that you don't like my hotdog example - that's why I provided two further examples, too.
 
8 hours later…
user76284
user76284
17:03
@JochenGlueck I'm curious to learn what offends you so much about pointing out that tax-funded healthcare is not free, but in fact paid for through taxes.
Do you call private health insurance "free healthcare"?
user76284
user76284
17:16
"How could one possibly disguise a fact which is completely common knowledge?" If it's completely common knowledge, why does it offend you so much? The reason must be ideological.
 
2 hours later…
Yvan Velenik
Yvan Velenik
19:45
@user76284 "The reason must be ideological." Wow, the pot calling the kettle black...
This site has become a dump.
This site has become a dump.
@user76284 Expanding on my example of going for a walk; the phrase 'free healthcare' is used to signify that you can make use of healthcare services for free. Of course the system, the healthcare infrastructure, is paid for somehow (usually taxes). But at every moment in every citizens life, the choice whether to seek medical help or not has no financial component. Just like going for a walk around the block.
Jochen Glueck
Jochen Glueck
20:46
@user76284: I don't think we're in disagreement about the fact that the NHS is tax-funded. You said this several times; I also said precisely this several times. We simply agree on this.
Apparently, we do not agree on whether the sentence "The NHS is free" is correct. Your objection was "If it's payed from taxes it's not free", and I was saying that this claim of yours is not supported by the semantics of the word "free" (user @Thissitehasbecomeadump. is pointing out the same observation by a different example.)
I'm simply trying to understand why you think that in this specfic context the word "free" should be used with a different meaning from how it is used in most other situations.

« first day    last day (16 days later) »