True story here. I know Prof will disagree, but that doesn't make this any less poignant.
This guy who is about 70, (yet acts like he is 35) always pays me to fix his computer (he and his wife just love the pRoNo don'tcha know!). He is a retiree from the Canadian armed forces, or what we would consider navy. In any case, it is rare that we talk about politics because he is a lot more conservative than I am, but he was dropping off the computer and one of those lying scare tactic commercials came on, and then the news covered some people complaining about all the horrors to come if health reform is passed. My remark was something to the effect that the United States, great as it is, is the world's leading producer of blithering idiots.
He told me he cannot understand why folks are so worried about losing an obviously broken system. He said that despite what people tell you, he or his immediate family has never experienced unreasonable wait times for tests or procedures. He also said he trusts Canadian doctors over American ones any day of the week. He thinks it is largely due to potential malpractice issues, and the fact that the more American doctors run tests or procedures the more money they make. He thinks that we are fools not to fix the BS we have now. I have to agree with him!
But it looks like the insurance industry has won again with their lies and scare tactics, because so many of you believe them. Any reform we get now will only increase their profit margin and set our system farther back. Money is the priority, patients are an afterthought.
RJ, obviously you didn't get my points earlier. Socialised medicine is a wonderful thing. I mentioned before my reaction when Tonks' little girl got burned on a BBQ.
What I don't think is a good thing is giving the reigns over to an already corrupt, bloated, self-aggrandizing bureaucracy, which has already managed to bankrupt your country into the next flammin' millennium. If I was to compare insurance costs (applied to every pay I earn) against anyone here who's fully insured, who do you think is going to pay more annually?
I've already listed the ways our gov't has skimmed any possible overage into it's own pockets, leaving nothing for shortfall years. Then continually increased the percentage taken, despite longer and longer waiting lines, lower raises for medical pros, and loosing more and more promising doctors to the private sector simply because of oppressive regulations and restrictive pay scales. Worse, the system is exclusive. I can't opt out. I can't go to a private clinic. I can't demand experimental treatments, or even regular treatments without a doctor's go ahead. A doctor I can't even get to, because there's so few family practitioners left, and they've all got full dance cards.
Tell me that the Obamaplan addresses those issues. Tell me how your new system is going to avoid running out of cash just like your social security plan has. Just like France's public health plan is.
Don't tell me how great I've got it. I know how great socialized medicine is. I brought 3 kids into the world under it. A couple of months back, had half her thumb sewn back on. My mother's broken bones, survived cancer, had her gallbladder out ... all under Medicare. But I also know the theft, waste and corruption side of it. You complain about the corruption of your private insurance. Right now, at least you have options. How are you going to deal with one option, forced upon you at the point of a tax judge's gavel? Miss a payment now, you're uninsured. Miss a payment later, go to jail. But wait, you can't miss a payment anymore. It's deducted at the source. You might miss a meal, but you'll never miss a payment.
Best one I"ve seen so far:
