Would universal health care be like going to the Department of Motor Vehicles for medical attention?

Question

I picture universal health care that is run by the government to be as slow and annoying, with no satisfactory results, as the DMV which is also run by the government. Only with longer lines.

Answer 1

Repeat after me: There is NO SUCH THING as Free Health Care. Health Care is a service and as such it must be paid for by someone. In the case of all those socialists that scream for "Universal Health Care" "Paid for by the Government" ... what they are really saying is that they want someone else to pay for their Health Care, which is not right under any circumstances. It is unfortunate that there are people without medical coverage, but rather than scream and moan about "Universal" Health coverage that will do nothing but cripple the system, how about devoting your energy to insisting on tort reform that stops guys like John Edwards from making hundreds of millions of dollars by suing doctors and hospitals ... Stop THAT abuse and the cost of treating people will come down to affordable levels.

Take this a step further ... the government has NO history of being able to run anything efficiently. You want medical care and hospitals to be as screwed up as the social security situation or the current fiasco with the Walter Reed Medical Center and VA hospitals?? If so give medical care to the government and ask them to run it for you. Private Industry will ALWAYS run things more efficiently than government because if they don't ... they go out of business.

To quote Neal Boortz on the subject:
"You may think, for instance, that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive health care unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof."

Excellent question asker ... Let's just hope enough people wise up before the Hildabeast runs for office!

Answer 2

This question is premised on an utter lack of knowledge or even of any attempt to learn about the issues around health care.

Go to www.hcfa.org, just as a place to start, and learn about what you're babbling about.

IMO, there WILL be some inefficiencies in how health care is distributed in a government system. However, there is and always will be private medical care available. The benefit of universal health care is that you HAVE COVERAGE, and isn't that a relief when your appendix bursts or your white blood cell count plummets? Further, costs per patient will decline to sane levels.

You might consider as well the strange conundrum of lifespan discrepancy between the US and the rest of the industrialized world. Britain, Japan, France, Germany, and others all have lower mortality rates and healthier populations than does the US - and all of them have universal health care.

There's plenty to debate about HOW to administer universal health care - but the uninformed knee-jerk argument that any government service to the populace is tantamount to Soviet Russia is just ignorant.

Also - I love how people love to slam on Canada (as opposed to any other country) in order to slam universal health care. Yet why is it that Canada has sustained the system and done nothing to repeal it? They are a democracy too, you know, with a conservative PM and parliament.

To Cappi: Your disdain for the basic tenets of civil society is astounding. I wish you every cancer, heart ailment, neurological disorder, digestive distress, locust, and boil that God can rend upon you, just so that I have the chance to look you in the eye as you beg for help to handle your situation. What a pitiful excuse for a human being.

Answer 3

It's not CARE...it's INSURANCE! If you have an argument against HEALTH INSURANCE why not let us know what it is? Helicopters are not a part of any HEALTH CARE system that I know of. If you do ever get a lift in a chopper, and you don't have insurance be prepared for a bill you'll never be able to pay. Even a short ride in an ambulance cost a couple of grand. Why don't you know that? Everyone else does? Way too much right wing radio, bro...way! No kiddin'!

Answer 4

The government doesn't do very much, very well at all. If you want a picture of how the government would manage socialized medicine, look at recent accounts of Walter Reed for our veterans. If that is how we treat our citizen soldiers who have placed their very lives on the line, how do you think you will be treated?

"Mighty Mann": If you have a medical condition that requires $4000.00 per month, I sympathize with you. But where do you get off thinking that I (who does NOT have such a condition) should help you (who DOES have the condition) to pay for it?

Geesh, the "what's in it for me" crowd can't think past their own "needs" to the morality of the situation.

And before you get all rightous with me about how the plight of the "needy" is everyone's responsibility...I don't buy it at all.

However "deserving" you are to have the condition due to past life style or however "tragic" the situation is because you don't "deserve" to have it...It is YOU that has it and it is YOU that should bear the burden of paying for your health care.

I'll take care of my own thank you and if I can't then I will die (and pay for my own funeral).

Stay out of my pocket you leech!

Answer 5

Yes, I live near the border, and work with many Canadians, their system is very slow and inefficient. One woman I know, fell and injured her wrist. It was two weeks, after the accident before she could even get x-rays, at which time found out her wrist was broken and had started to heal improperly. They had to do surgery to rebreak it and set it properly. There is a reason that we pay so much for health care in the US. Its worth it.

Answer 6

Add the other public offices as well. You have never waited in line for a drivers permit behind someone getting a marriage certificate behind someone getting a plumbing permit!

Answer 7

I think it wouId partially depend on whether or not the government used privately contracted physicians or just had them as straight payrolled employees.

Answer 8

If I have to stand in line to get the pills that will save my life ( They cost 4000.00 a MONTH ) Where is the back of the line???

Answer 9

yeah, except they are faster.
3 weeks for emergency care, 2 months for office visit, 3 years for life threatening surgery...look it up...Canada has it.

Answer 10

Exactly! Now you get the picture. That is why Canadians who can afford it come to the U.S. and pay for their own healthcare..