OT: Very Serious problems associated with Universal Health Care

[brians2000]

I will post links to three very serious problems from the UK in regard to Universal Health Care. Everyone should read these and consider how long the US will take to establish these same issues if the United States politicians continue on this very dangerous idea of Universal Healthcare. These three topics scare me to death.

The first one listed is asking the chronically ill patients to treat themselves at home instead of seeing a doctor.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/02/nhs102.xml

The second one highlights waiting times for procedures.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NNE2LBUOAWN43QFIQMGSFFWAVCBQ WIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/02/nhs202.xml

And the third suggest people unfit would be denied health coverage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NNE2LBUOAWN43QFIQMGSFFWAVCBQ WIV0?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2008/01/01/view01.xml

[ErinENj]

There are too many things wrong with these ideas to even try to list them all. How this makes sense to anyone worries me. There must be a politician gene that makes them think differently and that makes any common sense gene inactive. I guess, on the principals, it could make sense. Saving money is always a good thing, provided the way the savings are spent benefit the people and not to line someone's pockets (I know, novel thought. Won't happen, but it's nice to dream.

Keep me posted on this. I'm really interested in how it progresses! Thanks for posting this information!!

[bluebirdy]

Very sobering. And not surprising in the least. bb

[Mark N]

It is a result of our society right now that many only pay attention long enough for a sound bite to get their attention. Who can be opposed to insure all Americans, unfortunately it doesn't look at the harder questions socialized medicine brings. Instead of taking the time and effort to find ways to improve our system. We do need to have changes to our system but keep the good parts and correct the inequities.

I talked before about using health savings accounts, catastrophic insurance, and regulating insurance companies as ways to maintain the advantages of personal choice and responsibility while eliminating the large compensation that our insurance dollars pay for. The solutions will require that we demand real discussion and not just sound bites that convince the most people about what sounds good. Other countries have had socialized medicine for decades and we don't have to wonder what it will be like; you can't get around long waits and limited care as every country has developed these problems when socialized medicine was put in place.

[brians2000]

It is a result of our society right now that many only pay attention long enough for a sound bite to get their attention. Who can be opposed to insure all Americans, unfortunately it doesn't look at the harder questions socialized medicine brings. Instead of taking the time and effort to find ways to improve our system. We do need to have changes to our system but keep the good parts and correct the inequities.

I talked before about using health savings accounts, catastrophic insurance, and regulating insurance companies as ways to maintain the advantages of personal choice and responsibility while eliminating the large compensation that our insurance dollars pay for. The solutions will require that we demand real discussion and not just sound bites that convince the most people about what sounds good. Other countries have had socialized medicine for decades and we don't have to wonder what it will be like; you can't get around long waits and limited care as every country has developed these problems when socialized medicine was put in place.


I agree with you. Why dont the politicians just look at other countries that have tried socialized medicine before getting the uneducated people hyped up on the idea of something free. Nothing is free and yet the people who support the politicians have no idea what problems this so called free healthcare will cost. Most of the people who want free healthcare already get free healthcare while the people with money or health insurance pay for their care. I get so tired of seeing certain politicians continue to talk about every other country has socialized medicine but our country. They make people think our government dont want to help out its citizens. We need changes but going to socialized medicine will hurt us far more than just spending the extra dollars to fix the problems with our healthcare. I myself have used health care savings while I was employed and also a catastrophic insurance when I was a contractor. Health care savings is very nice and it is also like a savings account for people who dont need to see a doctor. The catastrophic plan I had would save my life savings if I got into a major accident. I had a high deductable but I didnt have to worry if I was faced with a major problem. I would love to see our government ask companies who could not support a full healthcare plan to try a health care savings. If people would try them I think most would like it.