Talking Health Care: Governtment Run or Universal Coverage…Likely It’s The Same
June 1, 2009 / 10:37 am • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierAre you guys sick of the topic yet?
Well, here’s where I agree with Barack Obama, it’s happening this year or never. I’m voting for never. The reason why there is so much emphasis on getting this done is because should the economy pick up and people start being employed again, the fear and discomfort will ease and people will get more rational again and remember that America is already in debt up to it’s eyeballs and can’t afford to pay for everyone’s health care.
My biggest concern with Government Run health care is that the government will run it and run you. That is, your life will be controlled from cradle to grave. You will eat a certain way…or else. You will do certain things…or else. And the government will have every motivation to force you down a path.
Ultimately, this is a civil liberties issue. Some people say that not having health care for all is shameful in such a wealthy country. Shameful is the notion of a bureaucrat deciding whether you live or die based on the metrics of a chart. That’s shameful. And that would be our future. It is a future I don’t want to see.
Just look at the big government, totalitarian groups that are for this mess. It should give you an idea of what you’d have to look forward to in the future.
Some are saying that Universal Health Care is likely to pass. Doesn’t this sound good?
But I want to remind everyone of something: Congress regulated Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. Congress gave GM $62 BILLION and now, GM is going bankrupt which is what they should have done months ago. That’s your tax dollars. The United States government has shown itself to be a poor steward of our resources.
Why should we trust them with health care?
I will be talking about Health Care issues this week on RFCradio.com tonight at 10 Eastern, 9 Central and will chat with you, too, and welcome your questions.
3 Responses to “Talking Health Care: Governtment Run or Universal Coverage…Likely It’s The Same”
June 1 2009 / 10:40 pm
Reply
Government run health care is a disaster waiting to happen. I find it amazing that intelligent people still think that we will have the same quality of care that we do now if we go to nationalized health care. We’ve all heard the horror stories about having to wait months or even years for simple procedures in Canada and the UK. I have no problem believing these stories because our experience in Italy was similar. Besides the long wait times, the quality of care is abysmal. During our four years in Italy we ended up visiting six different hospitals for various things. Besides using outdated equipment and not having access to the latest drugs, the way the medical staff treat their patients is appalling. They also don’t seem to be up on the latest treatments and the sanitation methods seemed to be minimal. When my infant daughter ended up in cardiac ICU at the Univ. of Padua hospital, I had to constantly remind the staff to wash their hands when they went from one patient to another!! My daughter ended up getting an infection, of course, and nearly died. She now has CP from that experience and will be disabled for life. Yes, I sued the hospital. But that’s another thing. You really think the government is going to allow patients to sue their doctors, who are government employees, for malpractice? Not going to happen, just as today military people can’t sue their doctors for malpractice. In the end we did get a lousy couple grand for our trouble, but that doesn’t do much for my daughter in the long term. Anyway, my point is that nationalized health care is something we do not want, do not need, and can’t afford. Obama is going to try to ram this through THIS YEAR and we need to fight with everything we’ve got to stop him.
June 2 2009 / 1:33 pm
Reply
I think a large part of the belief that when the government controls health care it will control your life springs from the ideal that they will limit behaviors to control costs.
Based on the recent past I doubt this very seriously. During all of the mortgage bubble blowing there were voices telling politicians that we were heading for disaster. They wouldn’t listen because a voter block was being buttered up and ready for harvest. What are the chances that they will suddenly start to tell the irresponsible eaters that they have to skip that which gives them pleasure and do that which is healthful.
So we will end up with the worst of all worlds. IRS enforced slavery, complete lack of personal responsibility for their health by the most irresponsible and complete lack of control over our heath care for the responsible.
I say let the responsible keep control, let the irresponsible suffer their own costs. The only health care reform we need is tort reform; loser pays and a cap on punitive damages in medical malpractice.
In a contingent fee legal system the loser is free to bring suits that are not warranted by the merits of the case in the hopes that a sympathetic jury will grant them a large judgment based on sympathy for the client. If they had to risk paying for the defense as a penalty for losing then they would be a lot more careful to only bring cases with merit. Also if the punitive damages were restricted then the insurance rates would drop and the lottery factor would be taken out of the malpractice arena.
June 4 2009 / 6:04 pm
Reply
“… your life will be controlled from cradle to grave. You will eat a certain way…or else. You will do certain things…or else. And the government will have every motivation to force you down a path.”
You`ve been peeking at the NHS again, right? The government-run system that will not allow obese people to be treated until they lose weight? Or smokers until they quit?