Health care and the long drive

[elsaf]

No, I didn't get sick on my drive back from Chicago today, but I did spend some time thinking about health care

Comments

[ayinhara]

Another Elsa stands up and cheers and read the post to her husband, who also agrees with you.

[elsaf]

Thank you!

[shipperx]

He said (I'm paraphrasing) that the problem with universal health care is that there aren't enough doctors and hospitals to accommodate the 50 million uninsured people in the United States suddenly entering the system

o.O ?

Do they not understand that these people get emergency healthcare/hospitalized medicine now? It may be in an indigent hospital but when people are dying we treat them they don't cease to exist (unless we kill them... which is one of the problems). The problem with this is that it's an insane way to do things. Many things could be better treated and cost a hell of a lot less if they had access to healthcare prior to being in such bad condition that they wind up in an emergency or if they were capable of getting care somewhere other than in a hospital emergency room.

That's where people are nuts. In a way we have 'universal' healthcare now insofar as if you're dying you're treated. We just jack up the prices on everyone's insurance to pay for the uninsured. What we need in universal insurance because the way

[elsaf]

Yeah, that too. Simply put, having everyone covered will cost considerably less than adding what we pay per person now and multiplying it times 50 million more.

It won't be free. But it will bring the cost per person, spread out over all of us, down.

It will make the system more efficient.

And it's simply the right thing to do.

[shipperx]

Yes. Exactly.

And sorry for the nutty spelling and stuff in my previous post. I was dog tired and heading to bed. :)

[elsaf]

It would be nice if politicians were working for the good of the people who elected them. But sadly, on both sides of the aisle, the real goal seems to be "protect my own position of power, or destroy the other side to enhance my own position of power."

I think this has gotten worse, for many reasons including 24-hour cable news, but it has always been so to some extent.

The true "public servants" are few and far between.

I saw an article this morning about people moving from the U.S. to Mexico to get better health care.

[shipperx]

24 hour news and allowing lobbyists to basically finance all the congressmen.

[pondhopper]

I wish I were as articulate and clear-thinking on the subject of health care in the US as you are here. All summer I lived with a huge amount of disgust, unease and just plain anger at what I was seeing and hearing from the media about the Bill and about health care in the States in general. I've lived in Europe for over 30 years, long enough to know that Public Health Care is a Good Thing, a desirable thing to have. I can't tell you how many lies I heard in just two months about the way things work in Canada and Europe. Such fear mongering, stupidity and venom...

Anyway, this is excellent stuff you've written here and my non-existent hat is off to you. Money for educating more health care personnel is fundamental.

[elsaf]

As shipperx said above: "If only there was a cure for stupid."

Thanks!

[kalibex]

The law-driven entrenchment of simple selfishness for a small population''s convenience?

When has it ever not been at root the reason for the elite's lobbying (even in the USA)?

[elsaf]

That's true. If we're going to survive as a society, though, somehow, we've got to break through the selfishness and get some things done for the common good.