Would immigration screw up socialized medicine in the U.S.?

Question

Heard on the BBC broadcast on PBS the other night, after the arrest of 8 Muslims for the attempted car-bombings (of which 4 were physicians and the others medical professionals) that 2/3 of the physicians in Britian were immigrants. Has this been the effect of socialized medicine in Britian-----that the physician jobs will only be taken by immigrants? If we try socialized medicine in the U.S. will we have the same effect? How many radical Muslims will be allowed into the U.S. under the disguise of being a physician?

Answer 1

I believe we already have the effect. Take a look around and tell me how many "physicians" you see in our hospitals that are American. Better yet, take a look at specialized medicine.
Our society gets sicker and immigrants get thicker in the USA. No wonder Americans are prone to disease more so that ten years ago. We let every Tom, Dick, & Harry into our hospitals and specialized medicine clinics to treat us.
While you are looking at the physician jobs take a look at research jobs as well.

Answer 2

Let's assume the recent immigration bill had passed. Millions of illegal immigrants would have received amnesty. The socialist system would have been forced to take these people under its wing.

We already have a deficit in the 100 billions. Adding that much to the entitlement system would cripple us.

That's just one reason why socialism can never work. Unfortunately, only one Republican, Congressman Ron Paul, from Texas, stands any chance of beating the Democratic nominee, all contenders for which have pretty much openly declared their intent to socialize US medicine, in 2008, as he is the only Republican running for President who will pull the US out of Iraq and voted against both that war and the PATRIOT Act to begin with.

Government is not the solution. It's the problem.

Answer 3

Xenophobic racism not withstanding, this country was built by those who had the vision to leave their small, oppressive, poverty stricken homeland in the hope of building a better life for themselves and their children. This country's hypocritical stance on immigration is both asinine and self-destructive.

We need the world's tired, sick, and poor because they're the ones with the moxie to leave their Kolkata/Mexico City hell-hole to come and continue making this country the best in the world.

If the suspicions of the British government prove true, the number of "Evil, Bad (and lets not forget BROWN!) Doctors" is infinitesimal when compared to the thousands and thousands immigrant medical professionals saving lives in Britain today.

The suffering relieved by those(and this is coming from an atheist) angles of mercy deserves nothing but our most profound respect.

Will our draining of the world's best mean we will have to stay vigilant against terrorists, yes. But closing the borders to 'them dern ferrinners' isn't the answer. Fighting oppression, whether in the form of a dictatorial government or a corporate money pit medical system, is the answer.

Answer 4

Go to any rural or impoverished community in the US and you will find a large number of immigrant health care professionals. This is true today and it is about the disparities in the medical marketplace, not a factor of socialized medicine.

We have socialized medicine now, only it is for just those that have insurance and is run for profit by the insurance companies. The incentive in the system is not to lower cost by keeping people healthy it is to avoid costs by denying care or making someone else pay.

Answer 5

we already have a lot of indian doctors in the US, the training is very good overseas for physicians and Britain has close ties to india and pakistan where many of thier immigrants come from. The amount of immigrant doctors in the US will not be affected as much by Mexican immigrants as this is not the typical type of job they come here for.

Answer 6

Who wants to be a doctor .
Pay sucks hours are long and many end up divorced because the wifes are sleeping with the contractors building the additions or new home they plan to live in .
He is busy at the hospital 70 hours a week .

Answer 7

American doctors are already forced to hire immigrant doctors to expand their practice. It's estimated that nearly 1/3 of Dr.'s do not practice medicine because of financial reasons. My husband was a Dr. He went back and got a MBA so he could support his family. Insurance companies do not pay enough!

Answer 8

I recently visited my doctor's office and looked at the list of residents.

They have 8 resident doctors from the local university. None of them are American-born.
This is a family practice office in my upper-middle class neighborhood.

American-born students simply don't hold the competition with the foreigners.

Answer 9

Socialized medicine means that Dr's will have to work for minimum wage and so yes we would need to import muslims from the 3rd world.

Answer 10

Do some research on how many doctors and nurses in the US are immigrants.