Tim Daneliuk wrote:

¹"Socialized" in this context means anything that puts people's
health ahead of the profits of health care corporations.

And if profit is minimized or dismissed, where shall the resources for
research and delivery come from? What will attract the brightest minds
to bleeding-edge medical research? Who's going to bother capitalizing
the estimated $1B it takes to get a new wonder drug to market? Shall
we all just become slaves to the state and let the political oligarchs
run everything?

Did I say we need to eliminate or even minimize profits? No? Then why did
you react as if I did? I believe in free enterprise, and profit is a
powerful motivation for the benefit of the public *provided there is a savvy
cop on the beat*. Unfortunately putting profit ahead of all else can also
lead insurance companies to deny treatment to people who need it. Or it can
lead doctors to set up imaging clinics which bill insurance companies for
needless x-rays or MRIs etc., and we all pay for that. Drug companies--well
anyone paying attention has seen them conceal studies showing dangerous side
effects of their products and so on, all in the name of profit. No, I'm not
saying we should make medicine unprofitable, I'm saying we need to guard
against the mindset in which executive bonuses and stock options and
quarterly earnings are *all* that matters.

Oh, and one other thing. If the US succumbs to the phony pleasures of
socialized medicine, what's the rest of the world going to do? With
our government in control of all things medical, capping prices, and
limiting delivery to those sufficiently worthy (as determined by the
health czar), the implicit subsidies to medical technology and drugs
will disappear. The rest of the planet isn't going to get drugs and
technology at a discount because the "rich Americans" will not longer
be paying the premium for them. Notwithstanding my contempt for
collectivism in all its forms, it would be sweet to watch the infernal
finger waggers around the world have to actually pay the real price
for their leading edge medicine for a change....

As always it's only a matter of time until you jump off the rhetorical cliff
with your hair on fire and a scream on your lips--are all libertarians such
drama queens? So you're a believer in the fictional death panels huh?
Figures. Oh, BTW, whoever told you medical advances happen only in America
was pulling your leg. The next time you have an MRI reflect on how much of
the development of that technology occurred outside America, or if you ever
need a hip replacement thank the British orthopedic surgeon who pioneered
that surgery, and so on and so forth. Damn, not everything is invented in
or paid for by America, who knew?