Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:56:14 -0500, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
Oh, and BTW,
"we're only one of two nations not offering nationalized healtcare"
is the worst of all possible reasoning. You want healthcare to be
the same here as it is in Burundi or Senegal?
Last I heard Tim, those were not industrialised nations :-).
OK. Fair enough. I happen to have direct experience with
the healthcare system in Canada - a place where I have
multiple family members who work in that system as nurses.
They are not enthused by the system. By *their* testimony
(not my opinion - theirs), the system is bloated, inefficient,
sometimes ineffective, and nowhere near as cutting edge as
that horrible profit-motivated system here in the US.
So, I don't even want US healthcare to become the "equivalent"
of the Canadian system.
Look, there is a simple calculus he There is far more demand
for healthcare than supply in the industrial West for the simple
reason the people live a long time. No law, or other forceful
action changes this fact. You can pass laws 'till you are blue
in the face. All it will do is *lower* the level of care that
people currently receive to benefit the people who currently
receive little or no care. I do not want medicine reduced to
a lowest common denominator. I would much rather provide care
for those in real need by means of private charity - a vehicle
in which US citizens excel - than to reduce everything by law to
its lowest possible form.
Note that when people need the best possible care, they don't fly
to Canada, Norway, Sweden, UK, or Germany. They come to the US
most of the time. There is a reason for this. The reason is
that the profit motive brings the best and brightest to the playing
field.
I am happy to voluntarily contribute to causes the help the
genuinely underprivileged ... and I do, as do millions of
Americans. I am unwilling to see *my* care diminished to help
those whose problems are repetitive and largely self induced.
I speak as someone who had to massively change personal behavior
to improve *my* health - which I did. I also, BTW, speak as
someone who has not had healthcare insurance for extended periods
of my lifetime but still managed, somehow, to get medical care
when and as needed without going broke.
P.S. Given the option, would you rather see the doctor who drives
a 1969 Ford Fairlane, or the doctor who drives a new Benz
every year? I think I'd prefer the Benz driving doc because
it signifies some level of financial achievement, and probably
some level of skill. But that's just me ...
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Daneliuk
PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/