Don’t Wreck Health Care
We are admonished to be brave…while we trust our beloved officals and their appointees to literally take over our lives. It’ll require more than bravery to fix the horrible mess they’re proposing, unless they just drop it altogether. Overall heath services work better in the US than anywhere else, to wit:
1) Americans are much more satisfied with the quality of their health care than citizens in countries with government-run care. This is born out by poll after poll after poll, and it’s why you see millions of people of all ages–the government-described “angry mobs”–confronting their representatives to stop the madness that’s overcome them in Washington DC.
2) The vast majority (to the tune of 70+%) of those poor souls living under government care complain that their system needs fundamental change or a complete rebuilding.
3) Don’t get breast cancer in Britain or Canada where your chances of dying are 88% and 9% higher, respectively, than in the US. Or prostate cancer, where your more likely to die by 604% (that’s 6 times) and 184%, respectively. Bear in mind, these are the countries that are held out by the government health care promoters as being “models” that we should admire. Admire? Those unfortunate people are literally being killed by their system…except for the ones who come to the USA and spend their own money to save their lives.
4) Here, 90% of middle-age women have had mammograms versus 72% of Canadian women. 54% of US men have had a PSA check for prostate cancer detection versus 16% of Canadian men. 6 times as many Americans have had colonoscopies as Canadians. Why the difference? Our facilities are far more capitalized by the free enterprise system and its built-in incentives to serve others. We have 34 CT scanners per million citizens versus 12 in Canada. MRI machines? 27 per mil versus 6. Where do you want to get sick…here or there?
5) Canadians & Britons wait twice as long to see a specialist than we do–often up to a year. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March, saw 4 specialists in the field besides my urologist, made the radiation decision and was all done with it by July 1. Try that in any other country. I have achieved what is hopefully a 25-yr cure and from start to finish it took less than 4 months including my own research and decision time. Had I waited a year, my chances of survival would be far lower–more like in Canada or Britain. On top of that, it was easy and routine to get in to see any my urologist or even my GP to obtain the PSA checks that I was getting periodically and which saved my life. My private insurance covered these, otherwise they’d've cost a measly $100 or so.
5) Our medical system is far more developed than anywhere else in the world. We have more facilities available, with shorter waiting times. Since 1970 we’ve earned more Nobel prizes in medicine and physiology than all other countries combined.
The record of government health care is abysmal everywhere it’s been tried. It is not the answer, the Dems don’t have the answer, and now we’re seeing that their program being reviled across the nation, and for good reason. American’s main problem is self doubt about how good we have it. 85% of us are covered by insurance and almost the same percentage are quite happy with it. That’s about as optimal as you can practically get. The other 15% should not expect the rest of us to socialize 1/7th of our economy so that they can have free access. Besides, most of those 15% are without insurance because they’re between jobs or simply choose not to buy it because they’ve decided they don’t want it. I made that choice myself for several years when I was younger.
Perhaps half of those 15% could be identified as being “unfairly” without health insurance. For somewhere around $20-25B they could be covered by a minimalist policy. If they wish more, they should be able to upgrade. This is miniscule compared to the cost of the Rube Goldberg system being proposed and it wouldn’t have to wreck our existing excellent system. But while discussing this, you still have to ask yourself whether or not subsidized health insurance is or should be some kind of “right” that is worth compelling the rest of us to pay for. It’s not in the constitution as such.
Personally, I wouldn’t want a single solitary health care decision made by people appointed by elected officials. It’s been a formula for disaster everywhere. Besides, a lot of the draw for the politicians is simply to gather more power to themselves. So far, they’ve gotten control of our banking & mortgage systems and our automobile industry. They want the rest of our energy industry, and now all of health care. When they’re done, we will be far beyond socialism and well on our way to serfdom.
Roger Holeman