Regarding socialized medicine?
Those that support it make "claims" that fire and police services are socialized organizations as well. Is this just another lame duck comparison that supporters of socialized medicine like to make?
I've NEVER heard this claim until the debate about socialized medicine hit the table.
To me, social services are for those individuals that need certain types of help, but they actually have to APPLY for these services.
When I need the police or fire department, I don't recall ever having to fill out an application and being approved for services before. You call, they come. To me they are public servants. Like judges, councilmen or city hall, they aren't social services, they are public servants.
What are your thoughts and or your digressions?
Answers:
Before I say anything at all, I want Scott to know that this is not directed at him in any way. This is to the people who have answered this question. Wait a minute people, when were you EVER denied help at an emergency room because you did not have insurance. Last I checked that if any hospital denied you help, thanks to the tort lawyers you could sue the life right out of them. There have been many periods in my life where I was either underinsured or had no insurance coverage at all. Once was just a couple of years ago when I was struck down with viral meningitis. I went to the emergency room and stayed in the hospital for a few days and I did not have insurance. I was never turned away. Plus I know many people even now who do not have insurance and they can still go to the emergency room and get treated. You must live in a state where illegal immigrants are draining the systems there. Because here in Ohio that is just not the case. I have heard reports on the news about California where they were wanting to do that because they could no longer afford to treat everyone for free. But again because of the illegals that have crossed over. So I first wanted to address that issue because it is utter crap!
Next, Canada has socialized medicine, and again because of the immigrant problem, their system is bankrupt and their current tax system is so stressed, they are afraid that the entire system will soon collapse. So socialized medicine doesn't work either.
The biggest problem I see in this country, is that most of you are whining about taxes being too high, not enough social programs to take care of our poor, big business is making too much money, the rich just take and give nothing back. Have any of you ever watched the movie Dr Zhivago? It is about a prominent doctor in Russia during the Bolshevic revolution. I highly recommend that you watch it. He and his family was stripped of all their wealth, their house, their money, all possessions. Then it was redistributed to the poor. It was the start of communist Russia. It will give you a good idea of what is happening in this country thanks to the liberal left.
People in this country just need to stop for a minute and think. Use the God given brain that you have. There is all this whining and complaining about the out of control deficit, yet not one of you whining are willing to give up your social programs paid for by the government, none of you are complaining that the democratic held congress wants to vote themselves a huge raise! Paid for with your tax money. It is not just the war that is draining our budget, it is all of the government pork! The social programs that don't even do what they are intended to do, it is the subsidies to farmers for corn and beef and then the oil. It is all the exemptions given to the heath care industry and pharmaceuticals thanks to Hillary. When are the people of this country going to learn that SOMETHING DOES COST SOMETHING!! You seem to want the government to take care of every facet of your life from what you can smoke to what you can drink, medicate with, drive in and eat. But none of you are willing to actively do something about the spiraling deficit except complain and point fingers. Then you think you are so brilliant by asking the rich to pay for it all.
The solution is very simple. First get Hillary and others on capital hill out of the pocket of big health insurance companies and the pharmaceuticals, get the tort lawyers out of health care. Then reform the insurance industry and pharmacueticals plus the FDA. When have any of you seen an insurance company go out of business? NEVER! Change those industries and I guarantee you will have affordable health insurance with great medical assistance whenever you need it. Even the American Cancer Society has become a hundred billion dollar industry, yet we are no closer to a cure. What is wrong with that picture!!? That is where your answer on medicine is, do a major overhaul in the industry and shut down the lawyers, and you have a fix to the problem!
As far as the Police and Fire Fighters and so on. They are public servants paid for by us. They are not part of the problem, but the tort lawyers are. The lawyers are the ones hindering the police and fire departments across this country! I am sure you have all heard of motorists who disobey the traffic law when it comes to hearing and seeing sirens. They are supposed to pull over and give them a clear way. But if they refuse and an ambulance or police car hits them, there is always a lawyer near by to sue the ambulance or police or fire. That is what is wrong here.
If I'm having a heart attack I call the ambulance. I call, they come.
Unless my health insurance doesn't cover enough of it, or I don't have insurance. Then I die. Or maybe I go to the emergency room anyway and they don't take my insurance so I have to go to the hospital across town, then I die because it's already too late.
Police/fire come no matter what. They don't say 'Nope, we're not coming because you're uninsured or don't have the right insurance". Ambulance fees can cost thousands. That can put a lot of poorer/uninsured people off, especially people living on a fixed income. So they put off getting the care they need and end up croaking.
The police and the fire department are concerned with saving lives. We call, they come. Why then, is medicine, a profession specifically about saving lives, not in the same boat?
If I live in a poor neighborhood the ambulance won't come. If I don't have insurance they'll turn me away at the emergency room. WHY DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO YOU?!!?!
We...the USA, already have socialized medicine. Senators, Congressmen, and everyone in the whitehouse all get free healthcare for themselves and their families for LIFE ! Also, Iraq and Afghanistan both have Universal healthcare for all citizens paid for by the WAR FUND !
So when congress, the president, and senators debate about whether or not we should have universal healthcare.they're really only talking about you and me.
The idea that universal healthcare would lower quality is ludicrous. Contrary to popular belief, the US does NOT have the highest quality and fastest healthcare system in the world. We rank 37th according to WHO (world health organization.) MOST of the countries that beat us have Universal healthcare..among those that beat us... Canada, Australia, Sweden, U.K., Germany, France, Japan.
The problem with the US healthcare system...Insurance companies. The insurance industry takes most of the revenue in the form of profit, that should otherwise flow directly to the hospitals and doctors.
The only reason we now have the "best" health care in the world is because we have competition.
...in places that already have socialized medicine, people have long waits to see a physician. Many cancer patients die or their cancer progresses beyond treatment in countries that have socialized medicine.
...and I am talking about cancers like colon cancer where in the US we have a 80% cure rate.
.we already have Medicare for our elders and if you cannot afford insurance due to low income you can qualify for Medicaid. So when someone says we need socialized medicine it means to me that rather than paying 300.00 a month for my private coverage...I will pay in a 20% income tax which in my case would be over 1,100.00 a month going towards my healthcare cost..
...simple truth is that this is just a nother attack on the middle class..
..income redistribution leaves 2 classes, where only the Eledist have what they want, and everyone else has what the government deems they can have.
...so becareful what you wish for!
Not only are you getting Liberal double-speak, you are getting down right lies.
Hospital Emergency rooms MUST take patients with or without insurance. I went to the hospital emergency room (South Fulton Medical Center) with an incredibly bad ear infection and in great pain. After I sat there for an hour, I inquired as to what was taking so long. The nurse told me that the indigent come there at night and they have to see them, so it would be hours before they could get to me. She recommended a private clinic up Cleveland Ave, I went and got right in. It was probably cheaper for me, since my insurance doesn't cover Emergency room service if they deem it NOT an emergency.
Those people that want to reform our Health Care really don't want to change the Health Care, they want to change paying for it. But, if it is not paid for, it won't be there. Why should investors risk their capital building a hospital that won't make any money? Why would someone go to medical school for umpteen years so they could earn the same money as a janitor? You just don't know how expensive Health Care is until it is free.
I have NEVER heard of anyone going to Cuba, Canada, England, or Sweden because they had a very dangerous disease or condition. If Socialized medicine actually helped people, wouldn't it seem reasonable that patients would seek these places out for treatment?
It is just like the Communism arguments, only a fool would want to keep repeating the same experiment, because they expected a different outcome!
You are correct! There is a difference between CIVIC assets and social programs. Police and Fire agencies are civic assests of the community set in place to protect and uphold the laws. No one need apply to gain from these services. The Police and Fire Stations and all the equipment is owned by the people (government paid for). They are trying to to make healthcare a civic asset. This is next to impossible and or would be incredibly moronic to try. The government does not own these health care centers nor do they supply them with anything and they don't train the personell. If you think that the government will just compensate these entities and their employees then all you have done is turn the government into an insurance agency.
Now, lets see what that looks like. We know the Police and Fire agencies are underfunded so. who thinks Universal Healthcare will be underfunded almost immediately? Social Security comes to mind here. When Universal Healthcare starts to under pay these entities they will begin to shut down. Doctors will begin to leave the government program and go back to private practices that involve regular insurance anyhow because they can't get paid in the government program. Research will go down the drain because companies won't be able to fund it and future doctors will start to deplete because who wnats to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to school for a government wage? The government can't force healthcare professionals to participate.
So when it is all said and done... you have higher taxes, sub par health care... you will have to by more insurance to get better healthcare (wait... where have I heard that before... maybe in the form of supplimental healcare for the currently in place government healthcare program that doesn't work?)
And what of the right for these private entities to make a profit for their service?
Look at the BIG PICTURE people!
When the police and firefighters come thay are not only coming to assist me, they are coming to assist my neighbors and society as a whole. Fires can burn down whole towns, theives steal from more than one person. Health care is an individual service, at least until it is diagnosed as a communicable disease. I have no problem with the community (as many of them do) providing ambulance service. I do have a problem with letting people have access to health care at my expense on demand. Fire and police protection is a legitimate function of government, because the community needs the protection as well as the individual.
What you will get with universal health care is an expensive, cumbersome, over intrusive, poorly delivered service.
The Social Security Administration is a prime example. It has taken me four years, and at least twenty trips, and innumberable phone calls, some of them waiting an hour or more on hold just to get them to correct my address. And twice I have corrected it, only to have it revert to the old address within a month or two. If that had been an emergency, I would have died, and then I wouldn't care if it was universal coverage. The cost in stress alone makes government run health care coverage unacceptable.
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