Why the nation will embrace universal health care

The Seattle Times ^ | 6/3/05 | Lance Dickie

[theDentist]

I just can't take seriously any article authored by a man named Lance Dickie .

[jdege]

The U.S. is headed toward a single-payer system of universal health care.

At the same time we're seeing single-payer systems England and Canada failing?

Not likely.

[Spktyr]

Must be smoking some of that medicinal marijuana.

[Tulane]

If our system is so bad, why do wealthy Canadians and Europeans keep coming here to use it? Why don't they stay in their wonderful socialistic health systems? Just wondering.

[AntiGuv]

FWIW, I personally agree. Universal health care seems to be inevitable, and it will be the first priority of the next Dem elected president, whenever that might be. It's mainly a matter of how it's going to get structured.

[bagocookies]

Corporations are sick of paying high cost of health care, though. They do wield influence.

[2banana]

The one sweetener I would add is having the new health system pick up the costs of medical-malpractice insurance.

In other countries with socialized medicine, there is NO suing the government for health care issues. Funny how this person wants the "best of both worlds" from a socialistic standpoint...

[Sam the Sham]

Geyman sees national change driven by runaway health-care prices, the failure of the marketplace to contain costs and the inability of people to afford medical care.

I agree.

[bagocookies]

It's not bad, it's just expensive.

[gregwest]

Does anyone here have any experience with those Health Savings Plans. I was talking to a company the other day about it and it looked pretty good. What you pays goes into a medical IRA. What you don't use rolls over at year's end and stays in the account like an IRA. It looks like a good deal for a healthy family like mine. The deductibles are a bit higher, but I can't remember the last time I even came close to meeting the deductable on a standard Cigna plan.

Those MSA/HSA plans look like a much better alternative to socialized medicine, especially for the self-employed.

[safeasthebanks]

Go away leftie dweeb!

[Red Badger]

When will someone please stand up and shout: "WE ALREADY HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE AND IT IS THE BEST IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD!"?????When has ANYONE in the USA been DENIED HEALTHCARE?...........

[k2blader]

I can actually see the greedy geezers demanding Hillarycare on top of their "free" prescription drugs and "free" SS checks.

[bagocookies]

Gimme a break. It's an article I thought folks would want to read.

[Jim Noble]

Everyone keeps his or her doctor and, more to the point, everyone will have one

Welcome to FR.

Where are all these doctors going to come from?

[AntiGuv]

That's a good point. I think universal health coverage would've been a better way to put it (though one could make a similar statement about that).

[1Old Pro]

To quote the author

That is just nuts.

[JNL]

What would be wrong with some of opt-in system? Much like the SS that is being proposed. No doctor or client would be forced to deal with a federal system it would be their choice.

If the experiement falls on it's face (it most likely will) nobody loses and this whole converaation finally dies.

[Dead Corpse]

Yes. There is enough class envy and "gimme"-ism in the US to have enough political pull to get the whores in Congress to saddle us with a fully socialized healthcare system.

This, of course, is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. But the masses screaming for more won't care. They are too stupid and thoughtless to care. By sheer force of numbers they will have it crammed down our throats, just like prescription medicine for seniors, and we'll will be one more swirl closer to the bottom of the toilet bowl.

And no. I'm not sure there is a damn thing any of us can do about it. I do know that we shouldn't go quietly.