Expectations For The New Obama Democrat Government

Buz, have you aver served in the (US) military? Did you receive any medical treatment while serving? If so, who signed your doctors paycheck? And who built, owned and operated the hospital? Where do you think your beloved idol Bush or anyone in his family, and all those conservative Republican senators and congressman go for medical treatment? Guess what? This country ALREADY HAS socialized medicine! It's just only available (now) to a few select groups and individuals. And , surprise, surprise, the reason all these folks who are able to use America's socialized medical system do so is because IT'S THE BEST MEDICAL CARE YOU CAN GET IN THE COUNTRY! Or at least it was before Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld, with their bumper sticker mentality towards "support the troops", underfunded and degraded it for those that needed it the most. America is rapidly approaching a health care crisis that will make the sub-prime mortgage debacle look miniscule by comparison and is due to four main issues:1) Americans are waking up to the fact that the myth that the US has the world's best health care system is just that, a myth. There are 20 nations in the world that provide better health care for their citizens than the US. This doesn't mean that the US is way behind them in the quality of health care - the US and these 20 countries are fairly tightly clustered together. But the US is at the bottom of that group. The point is that the current system in the US does not provide better health care than is available elsewhere. In fact, it is a little worse.2) Fifteen percent of US citizens, over 45 million people, are without health insurance. This means that any significant heath problems, diseases, or accidents could bankrupt them. And this number is now growing and as the Bush recession unfolds with massive layoffs, will skyrocket. The number of citizens in those 20 countries without health coverage is 0, 0%! Every citizen has health care coverage and does not have to worry about catastrophic losses in case of illness. Maybe that's one of the reasons they're healthier.3) (This is the most shocking one!) The US spends almost $2 trillion per year on health care. This averages out to over $6,000 per citizen (whether insured or not). What's the bill in those 20 countries with better care and universal coverage? About $3,000! Just one half of what we pay. Imagine what it would mean if we could do what they are doing. We'd save $1 trillion per year which could be added back into our $13 trillion economy to address our other problems and needs.So, what do these countries have that gives these great advantages in health care? Socialized medicine! It goes by various names and has various implementations, but the central government pays all the health workers and provides all the facilities in one way or another. It is socialized medicine. I am not saying that socialism is the best or even a good solution for all industries. I suspect that I am a more dyed-in-the-wool capitalist that you are. But there are some industries that do work best under government ownership and management. All our roads and highways are built, owned and operated by various levels of government. Our military is owned and operated by our government (it could be privatized, but I doubt that anyone would consider that a viable arrangement). Our national parks (and state and local parks) are developed, owned, and operated by the government. Much of our electric production, such as the large dams and the Tennessee Valley Authority are government projects. And these institutions and facilities are the best in the world.But the conservatives will cry that socialized medicine is not right for America, that our system is still somehow better than the others, and that we couldn't change horses now even if we wanted to. That brings me to issue number4) Which I already covered above: We already have socialized medicine in America. It's the Veterans Administration hospital system. It works and that it provides the best medicine available in this country is proved by the fact that those conservative politicians who can, make full use of it. They use, if for nothing else, to help find a cure for their talking-out-of-two-sides-of-your-mouth syndrome.The really big question is: how do we transition form our current failed and over priced system to the thoroughly tried and tested socialized system that works, and do so with the least disruption to our citizens? This question itself requires a lot of discussion and might make a good thread, but America has taken the first important step: We have elected a liberal Democrat to the presidency.Edited by AnswersInGenitals, : No reason given.