The Democrats on Health Care

It is high time the US joins the rest of the civilized world by insuring that universal health care is a reality. We don't have health care, we have sick care. Lose your job and you lose your health care under the current system.

I pay way too much in taxes, but I would vote in a heartbeat for public funding for universal coverage. We should get group coverage as one big group. It will happen...it's just a matter of when.

 

I disagree.

Look at the debacle with the VA and Walter Reed Medical Center. The Government was in control of that. If they can't take care of heroes, how badly will they botch it when it comes to the rank and file citizen?

I am pro-freedom. When the government has control of our healthcare, then because we are collectively paying for each other's healthcare (this is in theory...a large number of people, because they are poor, will not really be paying for anyone. Wealthier folks will pay for more). Anyway...because 'I' pay for 'your' healthcare, that gives me the 'right' to dictate your lifestyle choices. I can force you to not eat potato chips...because I'm paying for your care. The logical end of socialized medicine is the following:

In an individual liberty sense, you no longer own you. The people own you, because they pay for your healthcare. Therefore, they have a right to tell you how to live your life.

Being slightly arrogant for a second, I also feel I have a right to make statements like this. Healthcare for me & my family is a sacrifice. I pay $450 per month out of my own pocket for care. Yes, it can be tight...but if I can do it, so can many, many others.

Does our healthcare system need fixing? You betcha. But the same organization that...

• Gave us the $3,000 hammer;
• Ran a phone monopoly that made a 20-minute collect call cost $10+ dollars (compare to today's private rates);
• Allows our national treasures--injured veterans--to sit in a hospital with leaks, black mold, and pitiful care--supposedly in our "flagship" VA hospital;
• At virtually every level, makes the firing of bad employees prohibitive or impossible due to unionization, quotas, threats of litigation, or simple bureacratic bungling;

...also wants to run my healthcare? No thanks, I'd rather stay private.

Unfortunately, MP, I think your forecast is spot on. We will have universal government coverage. And we'll then find out why the world tries to come here to get operated on...because they have months (or years) long backlogs where they are, etc.

IMO our country will go bankrupt within three decades of instituting full-spectrum socialized medicine. The wild card will be if privatized healthcare is made illegal. If it isn't, you can rest assured we will have a starkly different healthcare system for those who keep their insurance, versus those who use the government system. (which will probably add fuel to the fire of the cries, "Abolish private healthcare!") To each his own...but I'll not give up my private insurance without a fight.

 

Get ready for 70-80% of your income to be paid out in taxes to support "universal health care".

 

Can't wait!

 

Aren't we just about the last industrialized country in the world that does not have a comprehensive healthcare plan for its citizens?

Regards, Hope you and yours are well,
BiR (May 13th is getting closer)

 

I know that universal health care is needed in the country.:thumbs:

I get insurance from my employer, but the quality of this coverage has declined over the years.

 

I will gladly pay more in taxes in order to have "universal health care". Health care is not something that should be available only for the wealthy; and at the present time, that is exactly where we are headed.

 

I probably know the answer to this question, but I just had to ask:
did the cost for this declining coverage stay the same or did it increase?

Hope all is well,
BiR (getting ready for May 13th)

 

What has happened, is that my employer has changed insurance companies where the benefits are different.
My employer is doing what they can, but very good insurance is unfordable.

 

Don't we need communist health care here? Sure-- the government does a better of anything that it controls and funds, doesn't it? Isn't the average public school student more capable than the average private school student? Doesn't Socialist Security keep people living better in retirement than private pension and savings plans? Isn't Medicare, rather than private healthcare providers, responsible for keeping people alive long enough to threaten the Socialist Security system, as it's gone from one beneficiary per 30 workers to one beneficiary per 3 workers?

Yeah, that magic touch of government. If we could now only get government to fund and control our churches! But that idea meets some opposition, even to the point of not allowing tax breaks to parents who put their kids in private (mostly church-run) schools, wilth the excuse "whatever government funds, it eventually controls." Why would that be good-- or bad-- in one area of great importance to people, but the opposite true in another?

 

Who said anything about "communist health care?"

Who said anything about public education?

Who said anything about Social Security and Medicare?

Who said anything about government control of churches?

 

You, among others, claim a "universal" [government] operation and funding of a particular facet of life importance is preferable to many organizations providing the particular service in different ways and different levels.

 

Look to the Fraser Institute in Canada. They track how long it takes for Canadians to get health care. For chemotherapy, the average wait is 4 months. But, the UK has them beat: The average cancer patient is dead before receiving their first treatment. (OK, that's a bit of hypberbole, but in the UK, there is an alarming number of people who die from treatable cancers because their average waiting time is 8 months.)

Why do you want our health care system to suffer so by being in the hands of Big Daddy?

 

Put it in the hands of the government and no one will be able to afford it, comrade!

 

Well, while you're at it, be ready to give up freedoms too. Since "society" will now pay your healthcare bill, they get a vote in how you live your life.

You don't have to be wealthy to have healthcare. I'm not wealthy. I have good healthcare. I pay for it. And it's expensive. I am disciplined. I don't do what a couple of my neighbors do...they don't have healthcare, but they drive leased cars and are always on their cell phones. One of my buddies "can't afford insurance" but he bought a $700 flat-screen TV.

Are there genuinely poor people that can't afford healthcare? You bet. And I'm willing to help them (especially kids!).

But I'm not too terribly sympathetic...because I've bought my own insurance since 1994. And in those 14 years, at least half of them were spent at, near, or even below poverty level.

But I still paid for my insurance.

The government does not owe you or me healthcare. That is not an inalienable right. Taking care of me is my responsibility, not yours, Washington's, or some briefcase-carrying political appointee.

 

My assertion still stands:

Ya'll want the same government that allows our veterans to receive substandard care in a moldy, septic hospital (Walter Reed Medical Center)...and that one is the Flagship for the Government's care of veterans?

If they can't take care of veterans, God bless 'em...I'll take my chances with Blue Cross. They ain't always great, but I don't want government healthcare.

I've been to too many DMV offices to see what "customer service" looks like to some government employees (not all, so don't hate me...but the bad ones are awful and usually can't be dismissed for their sorriness).

 

Actually, if you're that disciplined, you can sock away $5k (or more) and purchase a catastrophic health plan fairly cheaply. For your common stuff, pay as you go, or if you sock away enough and put it into a mutual fund, your interest can pay for your routine stuff, and if you ever need that $5k deductible for the catastophic care, it's there.

 

In a dream world, maybe! Some of us have conditions that the, "pay as you go" mentality does not work.

We need universal health care and we are not going to stop pushing it until we get it accomplished

 

The government is the most inefficient way to manage money. Healthcare costs will sore to unprecidented levels with decreased services. It will be filled with political red tape and unnecessary wait times for care. This is proven, this is history, and this is a fact. Universal health care will never happen in the US.

 

Why not get started now? You don't have to wait for the rest of us.:thumbs: