Health-care reform isn't socialized medicine

People against health-care reform don't know the facts or are being fooled by other special interests, such as big health-care insurance companies and the rich that have money invested, and their only interest is big profits.

Health-care reform isn't socialized medicine. If I like my actual insurance, I'll still be able to keep it, but if I can't afford it, I will have another affordable choice.

We can't afford not to change. If we do nothing, the cost of health care will increase to a point that only the very rich are going to be able to afford it.

Health-care reform will strengthen Medicare, ensure we can choose our doctor, and cut the cost of medicine.

Jose Nunes

New Bedford

Obama's secret plan to socialize medicine

So now some folks aiming to kill the president's health care plan are trying out a new tactic. Let me state again: I am undecided on the health plan. I am leaning against it because I see no way to pay for the public option part of it, and it does nothing to control the costs of Medicare or Medicaid.

But I would rather see us debate those policy points than to create strawman arguments just to shoot them down. And that seems to be the new tactic on the right. I've heard this from readers, and this morning, I heard the same line of argument from Sen. Jim Demint on CNN. He even referenced the same YouTube video a reader sent me. Here's how the argument goes: Obama has admitted to wanting a single-payer system that would replace all private insurance -- that's his true goal!

Well, when cornered on this issue by Hillary Clinton, Obama did talk a lot on the campaign trail about universal health care. Remember the debate? Was his plan REALLY universal health care? No matter, in the current debate, there is no proposal that would create a single-payer system.

But here's the irony. The far left is saying much of the same thing. They are saying that Obama got elected as a proponent of a single-payer system. Obama's own doctor is in this camp. They argue he has a mandate for such drastic reform, and they don't understand why he is giving in so much to the moderate middle.

So the far left and the far right agree: We elected a man who, if he really got his way, would create a single-payer system. What's more, he vowed to make this a top priority.

Um, folks on the right -- is that really the point you want to make? Remember, his victory wasn't exactly a nail-biter.

Beware of socialized medicine

You baby boomers are too young to remember the problems the UK had with their socialized medicine. During World War II, I worked on a farm as an early teenager and then Winston Churchill, who brought England through the war, was tossed out of office like a broken piece of furniture. The Socialist Clement Atlee instituted socialized medicine.
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Britain gave up its empire and gave freedom to all of its former colonies to pay the huge bill for free medical care. The cost was so great that no new hospitals would be built for almost 20 years. People flocked to doctors' offices and then threw the prescriptions into a trash barrel outside the office if they didn't like what the doctor prescribed. Winston Churchill fell and broke his hip and had to wait six days before he could be taken to a bed in the hospital. Since the doctors were on a salary and worked only eight hours, they walked out of the operating room at the end of their shift and were replaced by the relief shift, much to the detriment of the patient. There was no choice of physicians and if you did not like the one you were assigned, it was against the law to pay another doctor to see you, if you were lucky enough to find one.

Other countries went the same direction in socialized medicine, and in Sweden, doctors were not allowed name tags on their coats because it discriminated against orderlies who demanded the same status. In other words, socialism put all participants on the same stage of importance. Having been awarded my medical degree in 1963, I have lived through the full spectrum of medical care and took care of welfare patients before Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in 1965 and put into action in 1966. From that point on, there has been a progressive erosion of the medical profession as government power brokers seek control of the healing arts.

Thank God for "Socialized Medicine"

I woke up at seven in the morning. I had this pain like I never had experienced before. I was away from my partner sitting, standing, and writhing in pain in Paris. I found my way to a friend, Pedro-Paolo, who managed an antiques store in the St. Germain des Pres. He directed me to Hotel-Dieu, a hospital and ER, adjacent to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

I checked in, and, for two hours, groaned in pain on a dirty floor until I was unclothed and put on a stretcher, left unattended for two more hours next to a door (cold--it was January) where hospital staff would go out to have a smoke--tobacco or otherwise.

I was examined, reexamined, ultrasounded, CT-scanned, EKG'd, and, well, the list goes on. After eleven hours, I was told that I had a kidney stone most likely related to the fact that I had consumed "dirty" spinach and had not been adequately hydrated.

The care I received (after the first hour or so) was kind, compassionate, competent, and helpful. I recalled an ER experience at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago years before when I had a "stomach virus" and laid on a stretcher for twenty hours before I pulled out my IV to give a lecture as a visiting professor at Rush-Presbyterian Hospital.

In the Chicago experience, I received bills from countless entities totaling more than $4,000 for a stay where I was not diagnosed, left in pain and helpless, and literally left the ER with blood dripping from my arm.

"Au contraire" in Paris. I left with a clear idea what was happening, with prescriptions, with a follow-up appointment--and oh--with a bill--for 300 francs--forty-eight dollars.
Then, when I got back to our apartment and was still feeling ill, I called a friend's physician who came at 3:00 a.m. to help, comfort, and treat me. At no cost.

God bless socialized medicine. I have always said, as a physician, to the government, "Give me one billion dollars, and I will show you how to save ten trillion dollars." In my medical practice, I hired seven additional employees to help--not with our bills--but with the hundreds of other bills patients had which made sick people sicker trying to figure out how to deal with all the paperwork.

The time has come, let us have FAITH in a system where HEALING is dispensed rather than BILLS DISPERSED. This should be the SOLEMN VOW of any physician--and btw--I loved saying that to my husband when we were married one month ago in Connecticut. Some take those vows for granted; others crave to make them; don't anyone belittle those simple, solemn, and loving words.

Socialized medicine isn’t the answer

For those of you who think a government-run, single-payer health care system is the answer, you’re obviously not informed about the programs in Canada and Great Britain. They involve government making the decisions and rationing, with long waits to get treatment. The incentive for the doctors to provide good care is gone since they’re government employees. The people who get good, immediate care are the ones who have money and come to the United States. Many others die before they get treated.

Also, their systems are strapped financially, as is our government-run Medicare system, and there’s no money for research.

When has the government handled anything better than the free enterprise system?

If you think your health insurance is expensive now, wait until you see what the proposed free government system will cost you. Also, it still leaves many people without coverage.

We have a great health care system, that can obviously be much improved upon without socialism. There are many viable ideas on the table that will help.

U.S. already has socialized medicine

We already have socialized medicine in the U.S. It’s called the VA. We already cover everyone over 65. It’s called Medicare. Most states have health care available for everyone under age 16. At the very least, why not extend to everyone the possibility of opting into a public plan?

The health insurance industry cries “foul!” But aren’t they the ones who’ve been denying coverage, rationing treatment and withholding payment to those who need it most? Why are they so afraid of competing with a public plan?

Bottom line: We need comprehensive health care for all, not some patchwork plan that doesn’t address the core issue.

Socialized medicine

Ted Kennedy's socialized medicine bill includes provisions to exempt members of congress from socialized medicine. Our hero of the Chappaquiddick wasn't drunk again; he just knows the truth about socialized medicine.

Teddy may want access to new drugs. In socialist England, government cut costs by limiting access to new prescription drugs. Many drugs widely available here are unavailable in socialist Europe.

Teddy doesn't want to wait to see a doctor. In England the average wait is 8.6 months. You can die waiting your turn. Breast and prostate cancer have a 10-34 percent higher survival rate in the United States than in Europe. Waiting lines may be a factor.

Teddy wants a clean hospital. In England, they have an increased rate of antibiotic-resistant staph infections because government cut costs in the area of sanitization.

We can visit our crumbling, outdated and poorly staffed VA hospitals to see why congress doesn't want to participate in socialized medicine. According to an American Legion survey, vets waited an average of seven months for a first appointment at a VA hospital. ABC News reported allegations of patients having to beg for food, amputations because of poor care, and doctors repeatedly losing test results.

Congress also doesn't want its "employer paid" benefit replaced with an additional tax of 10-20 percent (or more) of their earnings. This would be enough to put the American Dream out of reach for most Americans.

Socialized medicine won't be optional for you. Most employers will unload their health insurance expenses on the government. The rest (except Congress) will join once the government bankrupts the health insurance industry. Under "Hillary Care" you would have faced criminal charges for taking your own money and seeking medical care outside of the system, even to save your life.