patrick.net

Hell, Americans fly to India to get treatment under our current system!

I personally know a person how got surgery done in India - for little more than $15K. In USA it would have cost him more than $100K which was beyond his affordability.

touche

Patrick
this confrontation would have been much more lively with a YouTube video of you two shouting at each other :-)

Yes, I've descended to their level. :-( I'm a bit ashamed of the f-word, but otherwise at a loss for how to express just how stupid medical reform opponents are being. They seem perfectly willing to cut their own throats just to express their displeasure with:

1. Having lost the election.
2. Having lost the election to a black man.
3. Having lost the election to a black man who is ten times smarter than Bush.

Personally, I find it sad that the medical reform debate has descended to people shouting at each other, and both sides share equally in this sad display we see unfolding.

Lost in the shouting are legitimate questions regarding reform: What effect will it have on medical innovation, seeing as how the US currently carries the world's water in this area? Will we have enough doctors to service the increased demand? How will abuses (excessive emergency room visits, lifelong smoking, etc.) in the system be handled? Personally, I feel these important questions have not been answered, at least not to my satisfaction. Obama saying "it won't be a problem" just isn't good enough. Call me crazy, but I would prefer more evidence than a politician's campaign rhetoric.

At this time, I am admittedly an opponent of the current plan, but mainly because it seems like the Democrats seem more interested in a "victory" than an actual working plan. IMHO, ramming this bill through in a rush will result in yet another ill-conceived, problematic government agency. I would like to hear more from doctors and hospital administrators and less from politicians parroting talking points, and if the Democrats were serious about convincing reasonable people like myself, that is exactly who should have been doing most of the speaking at the town halls.

But I guess my thoughts on the matter make me just another bitter racist idiot....

Having lived under our US "For Profit" healthcare system, the US Governmental Healthcare system (US Army), and the Universal healthcare system in Japan, I believe a government option is a poor second choice to universal healthcare. The only time I had a problem with healthcare was a billing issue in the "For profit" system. Not only was I overcharged. I proved that I was overcharged. In addition, I took the disagreement to the CEO of the hospital and literally caught him in a lie (in writing). I testified before the CA Assembly regarding the entire incident. I maintain those all these letters just in case I ever have to dispute charges in the future.

Anyone who believes a for profit system is better than a universal healthcare system is sadly mistaken. Growing up, my father often distinguished between "book learning" and life experience. Often giving life experience more weight because it was practical. I have noticed many people who have talked with me about this issue lack the life experience of being in a universal healthcare system. So, they begin with no real experience. That leaves "book learning." I have noticed most of them do not actually read any books on the subject.

If it is not book learning or life experience that forms the basis of their opinion, then what is it? Unfortunately, the most likely source is the Boob Tube. My father had another saying when I was growing up: "Television rots your brain."

I feel like I woke up in 1950's during the 2nd Red Scare.
All of these crazy people screaming "socialism" and "Obama is destroying the constitution". Funny they weren't so afraid of Bush's warrantless wiretapping - but try and help them get a break on health insurance and all hell breaks loose.
I don't remember these bizarre tactics during the Clinton healthcare debate, not to say there weren't fierce opponents, but were they this cuckoo???

stillrentinginLA says

Funny they weren’t so afraid of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping - but try and help them get a break on health insurance and all hell breaks loose.

I remember in NPR radio one caller was saying "I am OK with govt wiretapping my phone, because it is helping govt to stop terrorists from bombing our malls. Otherwise my wife and children would be killed while shopping in malls."

Patrick,

Health care in the US is expensive, partly due to government regulations. I would rather continue paying high insurance premiums than turn the medical care of my wife and children over to the government. I will not sell out my freedoms and my farmily's for lower heath care costs.

Chris, if you get sick without insurance, you're dead. Certainly financially, and maybe literally.

1. It wasn't a very slim margin in most parts of the country, or even a slim margin. In Global polls, Obama won by a landslide.

2. Technically, he's bi-racial, but he's generally regarded and embraced as a black man. He doesn't downplay his white mother at all. In fact, she is central in his argument for health care reform, as he watched her go bankrupt before losing her battle with ovarian cancer.

3. All politicians read from prepared statements.

Perhaps some of those opposed to this do not believe that this is the roll of the federal government. Let us assume they can do it better and cheaper, does that make it the roll of the government? At what price do we sell our freedom?

Do I end this with a "FUCK YOU!" or "I am sorry your parents died?"

You do not go through life without losing ones you love, but for some of us the idea of living a life that is not free is a Zombie life. We are losing more and more freedom everyday.

Thank you for our time (Insert whatever boorish remark you desire.)