Socialized Medicine - Good or Bad
Socialized Medicine. Where did we ever get the idea that it’s a bad thing?The AMA, Big Pharma, and now Big Insurance have a stranglehold on the health of this country. How did this happen, and what can we do about it?
Let’s look at some facts:
1. Every other industrialized country in the world has some form of socialized medicine.
2. We pay over twice as much as any of those countries per person for our healh system. So, why do out health statistics put us way below all those and even some third world countries as well.
3. We are less competitive for large corporations, so they ship manufacturing (and jobs) overseas. Wages may be lower, but the lower cost of health care increases their profit.
4.We are crippling many small businesses with having to provide health insurance to their workers. Since small business is at the heart of US prosperity, Socialzed Medicine would greatly benefit all such.
5. The VA system is a form of sociaized medicine, and the cost per person is much lower than the “insurance based” system, and the better care patients get is also a fact. (I know as I am a veteran getting that care.)
One of the arguments used is “Just ask a Canadian, they all hate their system”. I’ve asked well over 100 Canadians, and dozens of other people in other countries with Socialized Medicine.Ask a GI about the military food, and they’ll gripe, just like Canadians and others gripe about their health system. However, ask the RIGHT question as I have, “Would you trade your system for the one in the US?” Almost 100% of the time the answer is a resounding “NO way!”
The advantages are obvious - lower cost and better overall health. Not to mention the 42 million people without health insurance that drag down those health statistics and cost us more overall.