



Peeking inside the human body just got a little bit easier










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RE: Yea but...
By winterspan on 5/9/2008 5:56:07 PM , Rating: 3
What you say is correct, but not relevant to what he said. No one is talking about throwing out the constitution and capitalism and going to communism/socialism. Government structures all remain intact, and the free market remains intact.
The only thing that changes is that the healthcare system shifts from a private, for-profit 'oligarchy' run by large corporations to a government organized non-profit. Thus, the HUGE profits going to the corporate/elite coffers gets redirected back into the 'pot'. With proper leadership and organization, and the delegation of the actual healthcare practice to private companies, We could definitely have a win-win private+public partnership. And I am NOT talking about an imaginary Utopia, but a well-functioning healthcare system that reduces overall costs for the middle class (read: The actual 'normal' people in the USA).

I'm wondering if all the readers here know that nearly every other developed 'western' country in the world either has a national health care system or is in the process of building one. Then again, In most of those counties, the ELECTORATE IS ACTUALLY IN CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY, AND NOT THE OLIGARCHY.

RE: Yea but...
By djc208 on 5/12/2008 6:53:13 AM , Rating: 2

See you had a decent point until there, then you just veered off into a fantasy world.

Problem is, like the tax system, while there are easier and more efficient ways to do the same thing, there's also too much money wrapped up in the way it's currently done. No group of politicians has the testicular fortitude to interefere in that kind of money flow and the jobs that go with it.

RE: Yea but...
By dever on 5/13/2008 2:34:15 PM , Rating: 2
the free market remains intact... shifts to a government organized non-profit
Nationalization (government control) of private industry is the basis of socialism. You can't be serious in arguing that when an entire industry is controlled by the government the "free market remains intact?" Is this what public schools are teaching now?

Yes, and America still has the BEST healthcare system... I'd like to retain that distinction. Many of the richest politicians from those other countries come to America for treatment when their life is on the line. Recent example was a Canadian Senator who came to California for her treatment of breast cancer. Of course, most of her middle-class constituents do not have that option.

The study of prioritizing the allocation of scarce resources (economics) has for 200 years found that the most efficient way to do this is the free market. Every interference (controls, regulations, etc.) in the end, increases the cost to the consumer. Increase costs means reduced demand (only the wealthiest can afford to go outside of the government system). Or, if government tries to combat this with "price caps" the result is reduced supply.

