Dying for Health Care

Only poor people want government run healthcare, Kathy.

Wow, talk about no shame! You and Sarah Palin have a knack for invoking our troops in very inappropriate ways. Kathy, you've jumped the shark.

I had anticipated that you'd expoit this emotionally, Kathy, when I saw it yesterday. [sigh] This is an "outlier" and doesn't achieve much for you. You'd have done better to report on the traveling free (charity) health care clinics. The most noteworthy was shown when it visited Roanoke (Virginia), and featured stories of people who had gone months or years without care (including incidentals like new dentures or eyeglasses). The latest story about these clinics was the most noteworthy -- it was done over several days in South-Central LA metro (a poor metro area location, America's best-known gang area, among other things -- 1992 LA riots, etc.). While the CNN (naturally) person who asked the guy running the clinic a stupid question, why do the clinic there (the CNN person was ignorant, living in an East Coast bubble, apparently), the answer was not stupid: He normally ran clinics overseas to help the desperately needy in places like Haiti or Zambia, but found that the current situation here, in many places in the USA, is currently as bad or worse when it comes to health care.

(If you choose to start a new thread on this subject, the roving clinics, go ahead and delete this posting on this thread if you want.)

Lit3Bolt wrote: "Only poor people want government run healthcare, Kathy."

What a strange thing to say. You're joking... right?

Universal health care is ** wanted ** and enjoyed by ALL citizens in:

Americas
- Brazil
- Canada
- Colombia
- Mexico
- Peru
- Trinidad and Tobago
Asia
- Bhutan
- People's Republic of China
- Hong Kong SAR
- India
- Israel
- Singapore
- Taiwan (Republic of China)
- Thailand
Europe
- Austria
- Finland
- Germany
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- - England
- - Northern Ireland
- - Scotland
- - Wales
Australia
New Zealand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care

I want healthcare NOT insurance!

WE need and I want full Government Run Healthcare. Full Nationalized Medicine.

It is cheaper, better and the rest of the world has it!

"I had anticipated that you'd expoit this emotionally, Kathy, when I saw it yesterday."

What is your deal, DLS? First: it's an emotional story. Did the place you saw it yesterday strip it of the details that make it inherently emotional, or do you just enjoy ribbing Kathy? Second: you tell her what she *should* have posted instead. It was also quite an emotional story, which certainly could have made an excellent post (illustration the health care crisis, which you have told us all over and over and over again doesn't even exist), but in case you missed it: this space doesn't actually belong to you and you alone, and the posters here aren't actually beholden to your whims.

Father_Time wrote: "I want healthcare NOT insurance!

WE need and I want full Government Run Healthcare. Full Nationalized Medicine.

It is cheaper, better and the rest of the world has it!

Absolutely FT. The "public option" would just be a money pit with the $1.4M/day Health Industry still controlling the "game" and making the rules. Anything less than Nationalized Medicine would be doomed to failure.

Shannonlee,

I am going to break my personal vow never to respond to anything you write, just this one time, because I think you truly need to know this: It's very difficult for me to find words precise enough to convey to you how profoundly indifferent I am to your opinion of me, or what I write.

I just wanted you to know that, because I think it's only fair to you.

I had the same thought, roro. I'm glad you expressed it.

Bravo, Kathy.
Unfortunately there are many sad stories to be told of the economic collapse that occurred in early 21st century America.
Not all the casualties are at the lower end, financially speaking.
A very wealthy real estate investor who was a friend of our family recently lost everything and put a bullet through his head. Presumably, he was well insured and his family can continue without becoming paupers.
Americans (mostly poor, some wealthy) were raped and left by the roadside by the policies of our government and the failure to enforce any laws against the powerful corporations that committed the crimes. Our government even bailed them out and asked them (without strong legislation) to not rape again.
I know the rightwingers here will blow a gasket when they read this, but "It's very difficult for me to find words precise enough to convey to you how profoundly indifferent I am to your opinion of me, or what I write."

A very wealthy real estate investor who was a friend of our family recently lost everything and put a bullet through his head.

How awful. I'm really sorry, joe. My heart goes out to his family, and to you, too, as a friend of the family.

Joeaudio said: "Americans (mostly poor, some wealthy) were raped and left by the roadside by the policies of our government and the failure to enforce any laws against the powerful corporations that committed the crimes. Our government even bailed them out and asked them (without strong legislation) to not rape again."

said better than anyone.
Sorry about your loss, man.

Father_Time, I love ya, brother.
Right when I'm on the verge of changing my mind on something, you give me a reason not to.

Many nations have lots of things that we don't have here. Many of those nations have no way of dealing with H1N1 because their already overburdened systems can't handle it. Just look at the nations in SteveK's list of nations who are "happy" with healthcare. Look at how they handle pandemic and look at their own polls within their own borders as to whether they "love it".

I haven't done that (yet).

But you are correct. If they are going to do it, then make it all or nothing. I'd rather see massive regulation of insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries FIRST. Then, try nationized if that didn't work.

But as far as the topic goes, Kathy really shouldn't make the assertion that Greg Missman was "Dying" for healthcare. That is in extremely poor taste. Many people join the Army for college money, and end up dying in Afghanistan. Does that mean they were "Dying for an education".
Bad article, Kathy.

The question is how can the U.S. run a welfare state while maintaining open borders and unlimited immigraiton and while having a population growth that is increasing the poorest segments of the population and shrinking the wealthiest parts of the population.

What will universal healthcare look like in the future when the U.S. is 50% Hispanics, 20% black, 10% Asian, and 20% white. Can the U.S. hope to maintain a system with those demographics.

Steve,

Is that all? That's not nearly as many nations as I thought. As one who inherently mistrusts government inefficiency, as most recently evidenced by the "cash for clunkers" debacle, I would be more inclined to see greater government regulation of the existing industry. Switzerland is not on your list for a reason. They have privately run insurance, and from what I can tell, have found the right balance between private enterprise and government regulation that makes most people satisfied. So, if we're going to look elsewhere for models, let's remember that there are several that could be followed.

redbus wrote: "Is that all? That's not nearly as many nations as I thought."

There are... I was being lazy because I don't think many (any?) minds here are going to be changed.

EVERY developed country but one has one form or other of Universal Health Care System.

From the same link posted earlier: "The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system."

There is no logic in the argument against universal health care... just politics.

ADDED: There is no logic in the argument against universal health care... just politics AND PROFIT.

"What is your deal, DLS?"

What I post is self-explanatory.

So far, I haven't seen an additional (often-neurotic conservative-bashing) thread by Kathy, though the traveling free-clinic phenomenon is as I described, evidence of problems we have currently with health care.

* * *

"As one who inherently mistrusts government inefficiency, as most recently evidenced by the 'cash for clunkers' debacle"

Now we have learned -- no surprise -- that GM and Chrysler aren't likely to repay the money they got.

The problem we see with health care is not a failure of silly emotionalism in place of logic, that "all the modern industrialized nations but ours have government health care" and other such whinings (we also don't have more crushing regulations on the economy and much higher motor vehicle or energy prices, not yet, at least, either). What we see with health care is the biggest and most disturbing kinds of failures of overreach and wrongful-reach by the Dems, increasingly bad since the start of this year. The intelligent, logical public naturally is becoming increasingly skeptical and opposed to it.

superdestroyer -- black people aren't part of any illegal immigration problem; they didn't actually have a choice as to whether or not to come here. I figured you must have forgotten, since I know for certain you couldn't *possibly* have been implying that the color of someone’s skin makes them responsible for the national health care crisis nor less deserving of quality health care. ‘Cause that would be, you know, racist bigotry.

"The question is how can the U.S. run a welfare state [...]"

Not as badly as the Europeans (object of idiotic worship by many here in the USA) eventually will.

"I haven't seen an additional... thread by Kathy"

So? Again: the world (and, presumably, this blog) does not revolve around you and your wants. If you want to start a blog on which you post only the things you want to see, nobody is stopping you.

"'I haven't seen an additional... thread by Kathy'

So?"

Self-explanatory, again. It was something (better) worth doing if she wanted to do it.
(Not "had" to do it...)

[sigh]

* * *

"Does that mean they were 'Dying for an education'."

Wait until more state governments cut their financial aid and higher education budgets, raise tuition...

"Many nations have lots of things that we don't have here."

I have seen this in conjunction with older cries from some that we have motor vehicle fuel prices that are "too low" [sic] or "artificially low" [sic] in contrast to the (presumably "normal" [sic] or desireable, to them) tax rates in Europe. I always think not only of the other economic things I listed myself in this light earlier, but about what I read once from a wonderfully correct and caustic writer, that is so appropriate in examples such as this (nowadays, with HIV as well as tuberculosis infection rates):

"Maybe we can find lots of countries with a higher TB rate. Are we supposed to rush to emulate them[,] too?"

Many people join the Army for college money, and end up dying in Afghanistan. Does that mean they were "Dying for an education".

Yeah, if that's the main reason they joined the Army. What would you call it?

Hey, let him keep looking, roro. It'll give him something to do besides telling me what to write.

I would call it doing your job and accepting the pay and benefits of that job. The pay, benefits and other "perks" apparently outweighed the danger in his eyes. And it IS a dangerous job, like many others in the private sector.

Well, you and I must agree to disagree, then.