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Originally Posted by Phil21
1. It will result in larger government, and almost assuredly used as an excuse to raise taxes. You can disagree and say that the current system is already "run by the government" - however, no matter what it WILL be used as an excuse to increase the tax burden on Americans whether needed or not.
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If your government uses that as an excuse kick them out for people who don't. You have 24 other countries in the western industralized world using universal health care there for you have 24 comparables on what the administrative costs should be as well as total cost per person for each year average. Also you have the benchmark of the total % of GNP spent on health care. If they try and bs you into anything about more government, more taxes etc then you need to present the facts, get them to try and justify their actions and if unhappy, kick their asses out for people who will do it right.
The reality is you spend twice the tax dollars per person per year on health care already then Canada, UK and Britain. Universal care cuts out the bs middlemen and lowers administration costs immensily. If anything your tax dollars should be lowered since your cost per person for health care WILL drop over the next 5-10 years as preventive medicine care and administration costs kick in. If they don't lower your taxes, demand to know where that extra money is being funneled in the government. Who is spending it and why. Maybe its for good things maybe its not and its time to kick their asses out. Thats what democracy is all about. THE PEOPLE should be running the show and you get a chance to show your power every 2 years for the senate and house and every 4 years for the president. Use it well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil21
2. Less choice. Sure, there probably isn't a whole lot of choice in the system as it stands today. However, if you truly can afford it - you can get any sort of care you want immediately. That will not be an option in a public system. There needs to be a way to implement a public system that does not LOWER standards for anyone, while raising the standards for the disadvantaged.
If those two concerns could be met, then I'd be happy with a public health system. If I can walk to the doctor to get a strep check, and not have to wait 2 weeks for it (where I may as well just tough it out at that point), I'm pretty happy and it's an improvement for me. However, I've actually talked with Canadians and the like. There ARE reasons they come here for some health care. In general, it seems that they are extremely happy with their system for "large" things like say heart attacks, major injuries, etc. But pretty turned off from it by smaller less urgent things where queues can measure in months.
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With universal you have tons of care and options. I can choose my doctor, my hospital, my specialist. No question for an elective thing such as a knee or shoulder injury you will wait longer to see the specialist and get it fixed than in the US if your HMO is the very best and green lights the procedure in a timely fashion. That is an IF though. And of course if you are rich enough to pay cash for it, then of course it will be faster than in Canada for instance but in Britain where its a universal with the option for private it would be the same.
And your case for strep throat is just crazy. If I feel I have strep I book an appointment with my family doctor in the morning. Go to the appointment and about 30-60 min later walk out with my prescription. If your doctor doesn't have an appointment left for that day and your desperate then just use the walk in clinics and do the waiting list to get in. Works well other than its not your family doctor. There is no reason to not be seen by someone about it within a day let alone your "two weeks" disaster scenario for strep throat. Two weeks maybe to see a specialist for a torn knee but thats after you saw the family or emergency doctor already to determine it wasn't life threating like a severed artery etc.
Jut to clear up some misconceptions. And I have lived under both the Canadian and US systems.