>As for her free health care-dont ya just wonder what
>free is like? Who is going to pay for that and you all know
>you get what you pay for.
>
I couldn’t agree more. IMO socialized medicine in the US is such a staggeringly bad idea I can’t understand why so many people support the idea. Why on earth do people want the government in charge of health care? Is it because its done such a bang up job with the DMV, the IRS, the DOE, the USDA, the DOD, and FEMA? We have no shortage of general government boobery in our lives – why do people want more?!
As you say, people hear the word “free” and think “yippee!” But it’s not free. And the people who are going to pay for it are the same folks who are footing the bill for everything NOW: working and middle class people. AFAIAC socialized medicine will be just another way for the gov to bleed these folks dry, while robbing them of privacy (national health bank) and medical choice. The rich always find a way not to pay, and if the system allows for it, they’ll have private doctors and all the treatment they want. The poor already have access to subsidized health care through SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, disability and a host of other state and local entitlement programs. No politician with re-election dreams is going to touch that. The working and middle classes on the other hand will pay even higher taxes for yet another entitlement program that puts them in the belly of the beast: doctors they don’t want, procedures they can’t get, long waits for treatment, that sort of thing. These folks won’t be able to hire private doctors because they won’t be able to afford it, what with the high taxes and all.
What’s more, as my father liked to say when I was whiny kid, “he who holds the gold makes the rules.” If people think employers are overstepping by dictating lifestyle choices to people they insure, wait until the government gets its hands in there. Personally, I consider myself a fully-actualized adult, one who doesn't want or need the gov telling me when and how I get my medical check-ups, or what I have to weigh, or what recreational activities are are too unsafe for little ol' me.
I’ve lived under all kinds of insurance situations, including socialized medicine. And while they all have good and bad points, the bottom line for me is that I don’t want the government dictating and mandating my health choices. Ever. No way. Full stop.
That said, I think socialized medicine will eventually make its way here, because that is the way the nanny state winds are blowing in our country. When that happens look for the media, who love to do the Big Bad Private Health Care, “here’s Louise who can’t afford the medicines for her diabetes, hypertension, CPD, lumbago, hammer toes and gout, she’s also 350lbs and smoked two packs a day for 20 years but we won’t mention that” stories to switch to Big Bad Socialized Medicine “here’s Dinah who has to wait 2 years for a lung transplant under UHC" stories." <insert eye-rolling> Americans want the same system we have now, only for free, and that's not gonna happen.
(On a slightly related note,if anyone is interested in reading more about endemic government incompetence, I suggest The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast. While private organizations like Wal-Mart, Pepsi and Home Depot where busy flying supplies in by the ton and people out by the hundreds, FEMA spent days trying to cut through its own red tape, just to get a few porta-johns in to the Superdome.)
Sorry for the early morning rant! The right to be left alone is near and dear to me, and all this government encroachment terrifies me no end. No offense intended to anyone or his/her beliefs. I'm always open to having my mind changed.
Sparrow the Libertarian
