I think some of your references might be less than accurate. From what I am hearing you would like Health Care run like Social Security and Medicare. Both are failing and bankrupt. And guess who runs them? The government. ------------------------ Keith Smith --- On Sun, 8/2/09, Craig White wrote: > From: Craig White > Subject: Re: ****Re: guess what.... > To: "Main PLUG discussion list" > Date: Sunday, August 2, 2009, 2:15 PM > On Sun, 2009-08-02 at 19:16 -0700, > Vaughn Treude wrote: > > Lisa Kachold wrote: > > > On 7/30/09, JD Austin > wrote: > > >    > > >> The 'other' model isn't working any > better.  My wife works in an Urgent > > >> Care; tons of Canadians come here to get the > health care they need.  I think > > >> the whole industry needs to be more > competitive; most things in health care > > >> shouldn't cost what they do. > > >> > > >>      > > > Inefficiency in preventative care, diagnostics, > errors in surgery, the > > > truth is incredibly expensive. > > > > > > But just because Canadians come here for care > doesn't mean it's not working. > > >    > > > > If by "working", you mean the majority of Canadians > people accept it, > > and even think it's a good thing, I suppose it is. > They're just very > > lucky they have a "safety valve", that is, a large > semi-free country > > whose borders are within 100 miles of 90% of their > population. > > Single-payer is, IMHO, the biggest piece of economic > foolishness ever > > devised. Let's give an absolute monopoly to the most > inefficient, > > corrupt organization ever invented by humans > (government.) As for the > > notion that socialized medicine is cheaper, I don't > believe it for a > > second. Governments can shift their costs to other > agencies; the > > Pentagon does it all the time. I assume, for example, > the cost of having > > "premiums" collected by the CRA doesn't get counted in > the balance > > sheet. Not to mention the fact that a huge portion of > the overhead costs > > of private insurers in the US is red tape imposed by > government > > bureaucracies. > > Not that I'm necessarily endorsing the current system. > There were a lot > > of good not-for-profit medical insurers in this > country until Richard > > Nixon changed the tax laws, causing a massive takeover > by greedy HMO's. > > I'd like to see a system of decentralized medical > cooperatives with > > for-profit companies as a supplement. > > BTW, I don't blame the immigrants, but I do blame the > lawyers. :-) > > > > > > No offense, just my two cents. :-) > > There, I feel so much better. > > Vaughn > ---- > seeing as how the political discussions do not die off, I > am going to > sound off here. > > The entire premise of the Canadian health care system was > to provide a > single tier of medical coverage for all and no amount of > wealth would > provide a better level of health care. You cannot devise a > system that > is more fundamentally fair to everyone. > > The people who come here from Canada are doing elective > surgeries either > not covered by the health care system in Canada or > prioritized in a > manner that does not suit the person with money to pay > elsewhere. > > The language that you use Vaughn is loaded and > inaccurate... > - we are not a safety valve, we provide elective medical > care to those > who want to pay and go elsewhere. > > - the issue of a monopolized health care run by the > government happens > to be that which is practiced in all other western nations. > We spend > more per capita on health care than any other > industrialized nation and > yet approximately 25% of our citizens do not have > coverage. > > - the insurance companies do worse managing the health care > than > government could ever do. They practice murder by > spreadsheet. They > invent rules for exclusions. Someone in this country WITH > health > insurance goes bankrupt in this country every 30 seconds > because of > exclusions, deductibles, etc. > > - blaming the government red tape for the profits of > insurers is absurd > to its core. > > An American citizen visiting Canada can get free health > care if needed. > > Any solution short of single-payer will fail and we will be > back here > again, with more people excluded from coverage by insurance > companies, > more people bankrupted by illness only because the > companies with > profits at stake...insurance companies and drug companies > will spend > unreasonable amounts of money to influence public opinion > and elected > candidates. > > Craig > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail > settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss