What's so magical about hearing aids that these people have become convinced they need to 'wait' two years to obtain them just because someone working for the State said so? These hearing aids are items. They are items that people want. They are regularly manufactured by other humans. If the people who want those items were willing to pay those other humans for them, it is likely that someone would be willing to supply them to said people, without any "wait" whatsoever.
For some reason this possibility doesn't seem to cross the mind of the vast majority of people once they become inured to "national", "free" this or that.
The idea that their (in this case) health care is "free" is similarly stupid. It's not true that these people are getting hearing aids for "free"; they are paying for hearing aids by waiting in a queue lasting two years and suffering those two years in silence. I don't know how much hearing aids cost but if they could slap a hundred bucks or three on the table and walk away with a hearing aid tomorrow, isn't it possible that's a better tradeoff? Doesn't this occur to anybody? I know, I know, that's truly thinking outside the box....paying (gasp) actual money for the goods and services you desire? Barbaric.
No, it's better to suffer in virtual deafness for two years. That's the humane way.
Actually, that thought does occur to most people living under nationalized systems. That is why those nations usually outlaw the independent sale of such products. You wouldn’t want people with means having an unfair advantage, would you? /tu
Government run services including health care involve waiting, cost shifting, and poor service. In a rational world, one would tradeoff waiting time against cost such as for package delivery. With health care, the leftists have convinced the masses that health care should be free. Of course, there is no free lunch so the result is waiting, cost shifting, and poor service. The marketplace has been replaced by the political process. I think that most people cannot understand basic economic principles so socialism with its guaranteed outcomes are more appealing. Socialism cannot guarantee any outcomes other than waiting, cost shifting, and poor service.