With the proposed programs in the Obama administration’s budget, it appears as if we’re on a collision course with becoming a socialist state. European countries have been on this path for decades, with universal health care and other similar programs.
The question one has to ask is, has any of these programs worked? And in order to answer that question, you have to define what the expected result is. If the result is to have everyone pay for everyone else’s health care, for example, then the program is a failure. If it is to give everyone access to health care, then again the program is a failure.
In the UK, taxpayers fund the government sponsored health care system where everyone has “access” to health care. I say “access”, because, yes everyone is “entitled” to health care for “free”, it just depends on how long you have to wait for it.
It is perfectly reasonable for one to assume that if you have a potentially fatal disease, you should be moved to the front of the line, and you receive top priority. However in the UK, they work on a quota system of sorts. What this means is the government budgets for a certain number of open heart surgeries, brain surgeries, and other like treatments each year. Once the quota is met for the year, anyone waiting for treatment has to wait until the next year. Even if they are at risk of dying before being treated.
So is this what we want? In an on-demand society that complains about a 3 hour wait in the emergency room, do we want to wait months to be treated for serious illnesses?
Hospitals are businesses like any other, except they also accept insurance as a form of payment. If you don’t have insurance, they’ll put you on a payment plan. While this may be financially difficult to those without insurance, it shouldn’t force everyone else to have to pay higher taxes.
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