Why is US only "1st World" country w/o health care

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You've hit the nail squarely on the head. The bulk of Americans have a grossly distorted view of:

- What affordable health care can/should mean. Not one halfway-in-power politician has proposed we 'become Canada.' What Obama and most of the rest are proposing are offering an affordable alternative to those of us who don't have/don't want/can't afford private healthcare.

- What it would cost. Social services already make up a miniscule percentage of taxpayer cost. Yes, it would cost money to insure the 50 million uninsured. But I'm willing to bet that what is saved in disability and unemployment costs and in us not going to the ER and making you foot the bill, the cost would be hugely subsidized if not made up for altogether.



What so many Americans don't realize is that we are already a combination socialist/capitalist society. Those who whine about socialism as if everything socialist is bad ... when I see one of them tear up their social security check, then I'll start to take them seriously.

And what makes my blood boil the most is the vast number of Americans who claim to follow Christianity - a core tenant of which is compassion for the sick and poor - and yet when not sitting in the pew on Sunday morning have no problem saying, "Screw the poor - I have MY health insurance."

Because letting someone in our community die of a minor, treatable condition ... that's exactly what Jesus would do, isn't it?

- Jo

The point I was trying to make is that if California makes their own statewide government healthcare program, you'll go bankrupt anyway so it wouldn't change anything except for having more government control.

I'm confused though, as to how any American could trust our government with health. Surely you know how badly they've made the education system, so I'd imagine a national American healthcare system would be just as bad.

Also, a lot of the reason our healthcare system is so bad is because of terrible forms of government influence. HMOs? You can thank Richard Nixon for that. Expensive drugs? You can thank congress for elminating competition. When our healthcare system was an actual free market, it did a pretty good job.

Then about Europe: Yes, they all have illegal immigrants. What do they do about it? I'd imagine nothing, since they're deeper in political correctness than we are. I'm not sure though, so you should ask a European.

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Perhaps leave the US-Government to the Swedish government: The manage to run a state education and health system on the top class worldwide.
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Democrats don't bother with math, they spend money wildly, then come time to write up a new budget they throw a tantrum to raise taxes to replace all the money they pissed away.

I am not particularly fond of either major party but to point fingers at the Democrats and somehow prefer the party of George W. Bush as careful with government finances is one of the oddest comments I have seen about this problem.

Why pick on Dubya? The Reagan Administration was positively wastrel. They provided a dollars worth of government for every seventy five cents they collected in taxes. They ran up a deficit that makes the New Dealers look positively conservative.

In addition, the Reganites lied. RWR promised to get rid of The Department of Education. Under his watch, its budget nearly doubled. During the RWR administrations the Federal Register also doubled in size. You need not wonder why I am NOT a Republican. This people are liars.

ruveyn

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the existing system is very profitable for many, especially in insurance, and they are organised to prevent any change that will cut them out... they use of course existing ideology and prejudices, but in the end the U.S. spends more on health care than anyone else and most of it accounts for the insurance racket's "cut"... it's not unlike the military industrial complex, prison industrial complex, the Israel lobby and others that lock in certain policies that are not in the best interests of Americans.

Shock horror! Politicians lying. Though at least when you complain about it, try not to complain about them lying in order to do good things. Doubling the education budget is one of them.

Asides the average moron (i.e. 99% of the electorate) deserves to be lied to.

Read -The Republic- by Plato and pay particular attention to what Thrasymachus has to say.

ruveyn

Also, in America, we consider that socialized medicine is just for poofters in other countries--along with gay marriage, it just doesn't agree with American values, and with our self image as a compassionate Christian nation.

We ain't poofters, and we don't want socialized medicine. But, we DO want the right to rejoice in the pleasures of our Second Amendment Rites, and shoot anyone we want.

The American health care system is severely anti-freedom in practical terms... I have seen horror stories on this board alone that show this to be true, people demanding NOT to get a rise in salary or overtime in order to keep health care for a child who would not be eligible in the private system, not to mention people not being able to marry for health insurance reasons - a total infringement on freedom and completely needless.

I have to say I was horrified to read in a recent Time magazine today that vitamin supplement sales are increasing due, they say, to people losing health insurance and trying to fight possible disease that way... ghastly!

Some of you may have heard of a deserted place called Detroit. Historically it was the center of the auto industry in 20th century north america. But that would now be Ontario, Canada. The automakers don't need to worry about health care costs over there so they slipped across the river while we werent looking. They still have unions too.