Reply #22: I'm sure our government is ready to help! [View All]

[Bridget Burke]

When an RSV epidemic can put a city's hospitals on drive-by status, how will the health care system deal with a more lethal virus? (RSV is usually manifested as "a cold".)

Anti-virals, IV's & antibiotics are expensive. Will all insurance plans cover them? What about the uninsured? If untreated, they will spread the flu. Will they be treated in a timely fashion or rounded up?

Better diets & cleaner living conditions are good for everyone. What if someone got cut off from food stamps--another thread covers cuts to social services. Are we really less spread out? I get the definite impression that many people have moved off the farms & into the cities. (Oh, the many suburbs are spread out--only the "urban" folk are in danger.)

So far, the only plan we've heard from Bush is using the military for quarantine. I have no faith in his ability to respond to an emergency.