As a "costal elite" (a term just as obnoxious as "flyover country, and just as condescending), who comes from generations of midwesterners, I "get" the midwest. Helping your neighbors out is a great tradition, but it does not replace government regulations. Why? Besides the fact that this woman needs specialized care for her husband that the church group doesn't know how to give and will probably cost more than a fundraising bakesale can provide, the other problem here is "helping each other out" is a popularity contest. What if you don't go to a church - does that mean you don't deserve help? What if you are the cranky neighbor nobody likes? The whole point of the government is to provide rights with a relative blind eye to who you are. That is how things really change in this country. Sometimes it gets it wrong, but it usually takes government intervention to make something equalized. Case in point? The nice, neighborly small midwestern town that my family hails from also had a "lights out" policy on black people within my grandmothers living memory (i.e. leave town before it is dark or else). The nice neighborly environment wouldn't have stopped that on it's own. It took government intervention to force through civil rights laws against the will and beliefs of the majority of residents to force change - on an issue that now embarrasses everyone who still lives there.

My point is that health care really should be seen as a right in this country, for everyone - bad things in life can, will, and often do happen, and it would be much better to have a system set up to handle the them when they inevitably occur. There is still plenty of room in that system to help out your neighbor, but for a system to truly be fair, it needs to provide for everyone regardless of personal circumstances.

Great response. I was going to write the same thing. I too am a "coastal elite," who grew up in the "flyover country." And yes, this whole neighbors helping neighbors thing is ridiculous. It is a popularity contest. What if you don't go to church or don't have any neighbors? I know I am tired of seeing high school kids or colleagues or neighbors come to my door with a flier of their friend who just broke his neck, who was just diagnosed with something expensive asking for a few coins. Think about it: That is panhandling. It is door-to-door panhandling and that is the best system the health insurance reform opponents can come up with. It's disgusting that many of the opponents of health care reform are the same people who go to church every Sunday and praise the Lord for the miracles Jesus performed—most of them were healing the sick FREE OF CHARGE. Jesus didn't tell the sick woman who had been bleeding for three decades that healing wasn't his responsibility. He didn't tell her to go back to the synagogue or to her neighbors for help. He just healed her.
That so many of these social conservatives would deny that right to so many of their neighbors is preposterous, ungodly and has forced me to seriously reconsider my own beliefs. Right now, I am ashamed of ever believing in what the Right is preaching. I am ashamed that I ever thought that I was supposed to love my neighbor as myself, but didn't think my neighbor deserved access to basic health care.
It is disgusting.

Neighbors helping neighbors is very laudable. We have been doing it since our country's founding. Unfortunately, skyrocketing healthcare costs, out of all proportion to such costs in the the rest of the world, is proof positive that it hasn't been very effective in the USA.

Furthermore, should healthcare be a right or something for which we must depend on charity or the whims of insurers? I believe it is a right and the best way to ensure it is single payer. It is also the most effective way to negotiate cost controls when everyone is covered by it.

But don't take my word or anyone else's for it. you can do a bit of your own research on the internet and learn for yourself how well--pros and cons--single payer is doing in the rest of the world. Then compare that with how it is here.