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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KyrosL who wrote (49625)	6/9/2004 1:57:08 PM
From: aladin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793658

KL, We are paying almost double what other developed countries are paying for health care and have nothing to show for it My wife is alive today in the US system. She would be dead back home in Canada (where she was sent home untreated). Her meds were developed in the UK, but were not covered by either the UK or Canadian systems. At Duke University Medical Center I meet many Brits and Canadians coming to the US for treatment. There are many things wrong with the inequality of care in America, but I would be very careful about such broad statements about having nothing to show for it. If we were being cost-effective, we would let a lot of people die - an unfortunate and little discussed side effect of socialized medicine. Many liberal thinkers on this issue laud foreign systems and decry HMO's. But at its heart - Government Healthcare is simply a really big Government run HMO, but with no right to appeal or sue. John

To: KyrosL who wrote (49625)	6/9/2004 2:00:03 PM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 793658

Of course my first response is knee jerk opposition but upon reflection and knowing first hand how screwed up health care in this country as things are cobbled together, i do have some sympathy for your argument. The latest fiasco are those drug cards the seniors and me just dont understand. If private enterprise cant fix it, to me it becomes like the old TVA, someone had to provide electricity and someone has to provide health care. Mike

To: KyrosL who wrote (49625)	6/9/2004 3:24:10 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 793658

The government already is paying for half the health care in this country (medicare, medicaid, veterans). Paying for all of it will end up costing less overall, by eliminating the hodgepodge of private bureaucracy that consumes 30 cents of every health care dollar today. That might be the case in a static system. But we don't have a static system. Changing to universal health care will cause treatments to change and costs to change. You have to anticipate that and factor it in. Look at how costs in Medicare have changed as treatment changed over time to drugs, which were not covered. Popping pills rather than lying on a couch wasn't anticipated when Medicare was created. Just comparing current costs doesn't cut it when analyzing universal health care.