Posted by
Travis on Saturday, December 30, 2006 12:14:19 AM
Free healthcare for all, that is what we need in the United States. We need to get this done ASAP so that no one in this country has to go one day longer without affordable healthcare. This should also include the right of every American to free medicine, no one should have to make the choice between food and medicine. We must do this now, for the children.
This sounds very similar to what I have been hearing a lot of lately, mostly from our elected or hope to be elected politicians. A new government program to ensure equality for all. I think most of us realize how well run most of the other government programs are, just look at some of them; FEMA, (remember that little storm called Katrina), Social Security (what kind of ROI have they produced), the prescription drug benefit (by how much did they under estimate the cost), and the list goes on and on.
No matter what the politicians promise as far as nationalized healthcare it will almost surely be either wrong, underestimated, over promised, or an outright lie.
I lived in Germany as a civilian in from 1986 to 1992, I saw the effects and cost of socialized medicine. Health insurance was mandatory for every employee, but it was far from free. The cost to me was 9.5% of my gross pay, my employer matched that. That is 19% of my gross pay, all money I could have better invested. Doctor visits were cheap, when you could get an appointment. The total cost was high.
The best way to fix the problems with healthcare in this country is to get the government to keep out of it. Affordable health insurance? The day the government gives the same tax breaks to private citizens for health insurance they buy individually as companies get when they provide it is the day the free market forces will start to work their magic. Health insurance premiums will fall as competition takes over and if you are paying for something yourself you are much less likely to abuse it by seeing a doctor for every sniffle.
The United States were founded on the principles of personal freedom and personal responsibility, why not trust the people to make their own choices and be responsible for themselves. Do we want to live as a free people or do we really want to hand over more and more of our lives to government control?