| “There’s no right to health care, nothing in the constitution guarantees it. Instead of putting a huge new entitlement program in place, we should deregulate the healthcare industry.” Rush Limbaugh |
Nationalized Health Care
Conservatives will scream that government is the problem, that’s why health care costs are rising. And illegal immigrants are choking the country’s emergency rooms, straining the most expensive health care operation in the world while not paying a dime. National healthcare doesn’t work, and our healthcare system is the finest in the world precisely because it is privately run. They’ll say that the only reason national healthcare is in the news is to bolster Teddy Kennedy and other liberal democrats.
Wise Up! The arguments above are a bunch of random factoids and objections, trying to sell you a bad used car. Interesting, if you go to the Republican web site you can’t find a single mention of a solution or positive position on health care. I’m not saying the Democrats have a good answer, but at least they tried to provide one other than “everything’s fine.”
Let’s get some basic facts under control:
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The Declaration of Independence does say something about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And the first sentence of the Constitution includes the words, “promote the general welfare”.
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Governments have a public obligation to keep the overall population healthy. Everyone loses if there’s an epidemic, starvation, or a huge population with no health care.
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About 20% of the US population doesn’t have insurance; most of them are poor. When they get sick, we all pay. They use the hospital Emergency Room as their clinic.
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The US is the only industrialized nation without health coverage for all citizens.
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Health care in the US costs about twice as much as it does everywhere else.
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Health care costs are rising faster in the US than anywhere else.
But here’s the tough part: medicare and other government health care programs are already broke, and will triple the national debt in our lifetimes. This financial problem gets really really bad as the baby boom retires. Be prepared to spend a boatload more in taxes and private health insurance fees going forward.
Wise UP: there isn’t a simple answer here, and as you get older your perspective will change (particularly if you lose your insurance).
Find out more…
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You Debate: Provides some interesting arguments and data, pro and con
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The AMA: What doctors think
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AHIP: What insurance companies say
