Single-payer? Be careful!

THE DEMOCRATS are big fans of “single-payer” and the “right” to have health insurance.

Health insurance is advisable if you live in the United States — far less so if you live in Mexico and many other nations — but a “right”? Just because something is highly desirable does not make it a “right.” The Bill of Rights does not mention medical insurance. Of course, there was no medical insurance when the Bill of Rights was initiated, but that “right” has not been added in the subsequent centuries.

Nor has the “right” to decent housing and parental leave, etc. The Democrat Party loves to make things “rights” when all they are is things you want a lot.

This notion of “rights” is a result of American society’s becoming spoiled, a society that’s never faced an existential threat. No one under the age of 40 can even remember the Soviet Union, which is part of the reason so many whippersnappers are keen on “rights.”

The deserve this. They deserve that. They are  ignoramuses.

Single-payer is very popular among Democrats. All those European nations have it, right? And it works great, right? Not so fast there, Bernie bros. Watch the video.

35 thoughts on “Single-payer? Be careful!

  1. Wow, Felipe, you seem so bitter! The Bill of Rights is not a static document. It was last amended in 1992. Your video is by an American with a very subjective argument with a very erroneous premise right from the start. Why don’t you post something from the people that actually benefit from the healthcare systems that you believe to be so evil? The ones that actually pay for it, not their governments. They are in the vast majority in countries, such as my native Denmark.


      1. Hold on a minute. The Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the constitution) have not been amended since they were added to the consitution in the 1790s. It is the rest of the Constitution that has been amended — not that that changes your underlying argument.

        But the mention of the Bill of Rights does raise a fascinating distinction that is germane to your post. Every right listed in the Bill of Rights is a protection of the citizenry against governmental action. The founders were smart enough y to know that government restriction of liberty is the most important right of all.

        Government handouts may be a preferred policy of some folks, but they are policy choices, not rights.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Señor Cotton: You are nothing if not a useful man. I should have noticed that reference to an amendment to the Bill of Rights in the 20th century. Silly me. It sounded odd when I read it, but I did not go any further.

          As for the rest of your observation, I am glad to see you talking like a good Trump supporter.


  2. I take what I believe is a conservative view of rights: the only rights you have are those you are willing to fight for, or that someone else is willing to fight for on your behalf. Anything else is a privilege granted by your betters, who will take it away the instant your “right” becomes inconvenient to them.

    That said, our current healthcare system is not only a moral disgrace, it is an economic disaster. The current system is both wasteful and inefficient.


      1. So would single-payer be an improvement? Ample evidence from other countries and domestically (Medicare and VA) says yes.


        1. Creigh: Copying the Mexican system would be an improvement. And I would not cite Medicare and the VA as positive things. Medicare fraud is rampant. The system is wasteful. Government-run, of course. And the VA is often a mess. Maybe Trump has improved the VA situation. I hope so.


          1. Sr. Z, are you suggesting that nobody ever submits a fraudulent bill to Blue Cross Blue Shield? Do you have any evidence that fraud rates are greater for Medicare than for any other form of insurance? Also, this is anecdotal of course but I have several friends who depend on the VA for medical care and to a man they rave about it


            1. Creigh: Don’t know for sure, of course, and neither do you, but I would bet that defrauding government plans is far more common than defrauding something like Blue Cross. Private companies have incentive to keep an eye on costs. The people who administer government programs absolutely do not. As for the VA providing good care, no doubt it does at some facilities. It also does a lousy job in other places, which have been well publicized over the years. I had a couple of tattoos lasered off me at the huge VA Medical Center in Houston in the late 1990s. Great job, and it did not cost me a cent if you do not count the time I spent in the military defending the U.S. from Communist hordes.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. A federal jury found a Texas rheumatologist guilty today for his role in a $325 million healthcare fraud scheme in which he falsely diagnosed patients with life-long diseases and treated them with toxic medications on the basis of that false diagnosis.


                Reported by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Jan. 15, 2020


          1. Felipe, around 10 years or so ago, my sister in Denmark had ovarian cancer which was luckily detected early thru a routine checkup in the Danish healthcare system. Treatment was basically free, and she is still alive today. Something all of us that love her are quite happy about. Now if she had been in the U.S. with a job that offered no health insurance and unable to afford the ridiculously expensive private insurance, she would have died a decade ago. Or at least been forced into bankruptcy. Not one Dane that I know of has any objections to their tax money being spent to save someone else’s life. That is all I need to convince me that government healthcare can be successful. Of course, you won’t find that or millions of other examples like it in your videos.


            1. Jonas: Denmark does not have national single-payer healthcare. They have some sort of locally run system that makes it work with very high local taxes. “Free” healthcare is never free. It is taxpayer-funded. Here’s an interesting article from Forbes:


              As for the U.S. system, I would never defend what’s going on there.


              1. Well, Felipe, national in the sense that it is a federal mandate, yes it is. I would think you would find that system more to your liking as it is administered more on a local scale than national. And I haven’t seen anyone declare that any system is “free.” In my previous post I stated that it is paid for by taxpayers. And few if anyone in Denmark complains about a portion of their tax revenue going towards healthcare. Simply put, it is an efficient and cost-effective system that people are happy with. Maybe someday Americans will wise up. But I won’t hold my breath.


                1. Jonas: Government comes in many forms, local, national, state. I think all of it should be as minimal as possible. Yes, you did say it was funded by taxpayers, but the quantity of people who will say and do believe that it’s “free” are legion.

                  An “efficient and cost-effective” government-run bureaucracy? Excuse my chuckles.


                2. Again, the Nordic countries have income from the North Sea oil fields. That makes their social welfare policies possible. But what will happen when those fields are exhausted, or it becomes cheaper to produce oil and gas elsewhere? I am afraid they will find their healthcare systems impossible to maintain.

                  Liked by 1 person

  3. My fear about the single-payer concept is that government will waste all of the assets on the social parasites that never really produce anything. Those “deplorables” that get up and go to work every day will get an aspirin and be told to die quietly. Millions of dollars for sex changes and abortions, nothing for hernias.


  4. Felipe, you frequently post stuff that gets under my skin, but I refrain from putting digits to glass to answer you. Today you got my goat, hook line and sinker. That video and its appalling editing was really irksome. Young Pope was blissfully ignorant of the reality of being in ill health in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Yet you and l live in countries where we get what we need when we need it. But if it is an emergency everything will be done to save you or me and you won’t be left dying on a gurney because you don’t have coverage. It’s not perfect and whenever I may need a knee or hip replacement I’d probably have to wait for that, but at least I know I won’t lose an arm or a leg to get it! Ill health and sickness is the elephant in the china shop for most people. It lurks in the back of the mind like a shadow, but for Americans it’s the nightmare no one wants to visit.

    A few months back I became “Oh, that guy” who swallowed a piece of pork which got wedged in my throat, I tried all the unusual things to dislodge it (dancing wildly, swilling wine and finger pushing to no avail, but ended up eventually in emergency at 2 in the morning and eventually went into surgery at 8 a.m. where it was dispatched.

    While I was under, the surgeon, a pleasant young lass from Holland, did a few tests and a few hours later I wandered home. All that was covered under my healthcare card and the various pills and unguents imbibed (two cans of Coke) while on the premises. That $75 a month really covered my ass! Since then I’ve had a bunch of tests and all my pills paid for free! (Also known as a lifetime of paying taxes)

    If that had happened in a Chinese restaurant in any small town America I would have lost my house and been in debt to my surgeon’s unknown children for the rest of my natural.

    If Bernie gets in, I’m sure he would try his damndest to deliver what you and I get freely (or affordably) but you and I know that it many never happen because the majority of your senators and representatives are bought and paid for by the pharmaceuticals who control the show, and your sweet party would almost certainly dilute anything that might trickle down to GI Joe.

    It’s thoroughly reprehensible and nothing short of revolution will solve that.


    1. Colm: Long time, no see, as they say. Nice to know you’re out there in the shadows. Glad to hear you did not choke to death on that pork. And that your healthcare card took care of it when all was done. Where are you anyway? Been so long I do not remember. Wherever it is, your healthcare card is funded by taxpayers, including you. Not free, which you acknowledge.

      As for the U.S. healthcare system, again, I would never defend it. It’s dreadful. But a government takeover is a bad solution. Obama tried it, and it was a pure mess. A capitalist, private system is a good solution, likely even a mix of government and private. What is that solution? God knows. Mexicans do it right for the most part. It is not perfect here, but it’s better than in the United States. We have a mix of private and government healthcare. I like it.

      If Bernie gets in? Lord help the nation. Just what it needs, an angry, geriatric socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Union. The good news is, however, that Bernie ain’t got a prayer.


  5. A state-controlled health system is an excellent way to decimate one’s political opponents. Just let them die.


  6. Let’s see how these “free” healthcare systems hold up when the Wuhan virus gets to northern Europe. Those folks in China are still under lockdown after a month. Quarantine violators are being locked in their apartments, and the door is being welded shut. Who has a month’s food and toiletries on hand?


  7. Better get shopping. I see it is in northern Italy now. Some lady in South Korea went to church and coughed. About sixty people were infected.
    I have to wonder if it is somehow attached to Chinese merchandise, as I sit here typing away in my Wuhan slippers and Chinese undies. The movement of people has been restricted, but what about trade?


  8. And now, ladies & gentlemen, I am turning off comments on this post. Why? Because I almost always respond to each one because it shows good breeding on my part. And comments on this one seem to be interminable due to the heated nature of the topic. But, most of all, because we are heading out of town today for a spell to escape Carnival in our hardscrabble barrio. Our neighbors go berserk till next Wednesday.

    I’m not much online away from home, so …

    See you down the highway.


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