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it would switch the focii of spending from them to us. The war in Iraq doesn't do anything for us except make increase the likelihood of another terror cell attacking.

Snero wrote:everybody, theres way too many people fighting to get their hands on every penny of health care spending

Yep. We have good health care but our insurance system is hopelessly corruptly run with large overhead and a huge chasm between the have's and the have nots.

The current system is bad, but having the government take over would not be a fix, and would likely lower our health care overall as well as raise the price even more.

If government really wanted to fix the problem they'd do tort reform and heavy insurance company regulation. However, we won't see either since that'd take real political backbone and biparitsanship which seems to be long gone here.

My father has bee involved in the health care field for over 40 years now. His first real job post master's degrees, which he got in 1970, was working for a now-defunct governmental agency that regulated hospitals. If anyone wanted to build a new one, or an existing hospital wanted to expand, they had to get approval from this federal agency. Later on in his career, he spent a number of years as the executive VP of a sizeable hospital here in the Bay Area.

He said that ever since he got into the field, he's seen nothing but costs go up and quality of care go down. He's definitely for universal health care, because, quite honestly, he doesn't think the government can do any WORSE a job than is being done for the average person these days.

Unfortunately, in his opinion, fixing it is something of a gordian knot. He likened it to the old joke, where a guy on a car trip is lost, meets a local and asks, "How do I get to <place x>", and the answer is, "Well, if you were at <place y> or <place z> it'd be easy." ... "Well, how do I get there from HERE?" ... "Oh, I wouldn't try and get there from here."

About all I know at this point is that it's unconscionable that this country has oen of the worst rates of coverage for its citizenry in the western world. The ranks of the uninssured are massive, and constantly growing, as insurance companies continue to raise rates at a staggering level, and more and more small companies drop coverege benefits. SOMETHING has to be done.

-Arlos

arlos wrote:he doesn't think the government can do any WORSE a job than is being done for the average person these days.

Something to aim for!!! 8)

arlos wrote:Unfortunately, in his opinion, fixing it is something of a gordian knot. He likened it to the old joke, where a guy on a car trip is lost, meets a local and asks, "How do I get to <place x>", and the answer is, "Well, if you were at <place y> or <place z> it'd be easy." ... "Well, how do I get there from HERE?" ... "Oh, I wouldn't try and get there from here."

This reminds me of asking for directions to a place one time, the girl asked me if I knew where Wal-mart was. I told her no, and she proceeded "Well, from Wal-mart...."