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bullseyebarb · 08-09-2009, 15:34

What a hard and lonely slog it can be on this site when trying to explain to you good folks why it is such a bad idea to relinquish to the state those things which should be the responsibility of every fully functioning adult. I have always been of the opinion that there is no problem so bad that government cannot make it even worse.

I don't have time this morning to rebut every assertion you have made because I'm flying out to California shortly and won't be back online for quite a while. First of all, the U.S. has the best medical care in the world. Yes, we generally pay too much - due to some of the reasons I have already mentioned on this thread, as well as others in the past. Americans have a high degree of satisfaction with the medical services they receive and 80% of them do have insurance - although they would like to have more flexibility in that area. Of those remaining, you have the young and healthy who forego insurance because they choose to spend their money elsewhere, those who can afford to pay out of pocket, the millions of illegal aliens and people who are temporarily between jobs or long-term unemployed.

The WHO stats are skewed. For example, in the matter of infant mortality, the U.S. counts every birth. Other countries don't count as live births infants below a certain weight or gestational age because they aren't as likely to survive. Once beyond infancy, America catches up with the average life expectancy stats. We have much higher survival rates for all types of cancer as well as heart disease. Far in excess of the U.K. (which has survival rates lower than those for Europe as a whole.)

Countries with government-run healthcare save money by relying on the U.S. to pay the research and development costs for new medical technologies and medications. Doctors in the U.K. are paid less and have less autonomy than those in the U.S. The last time I checked, one in every nine Canadian doctors come to the U.S. to practice. Others spend at least a portion of each year here. America is a very dynamic and complicated country. We also have a much larger and diverse population than you do. If our government ever succeeds in implementing socialized medicine here, it will be a spectacular failure.

08-09-2009, 15:34	#21
bullseyebarb Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Georgia, U.S.A. Posts: 636 Liked: 0 times Rep Power: 49	Re: New NHS report What a hard and lonely slog it can be on this site when trying to explain to you good folks why it is such a bad idea to relinquish to the state those things which should be the responsibility of every fully functioning adult. I have always been of the opinion that there is no problem so bad that government cannot make it even worse. I don't have time this morning to rebut every assertion you have made because I'm flying out to California shortly and won't be back online for quite a while. First of all, the U.S. has the best medical care in the world. Yes, we generally pay too much - due to some of the reasons I have already mentioned on this thread, as well as others in the past. Americans have a high degree of satisfaction with the medical services they receive and 80% of them do have insurance - although they would like to have more flexibility in that area. Of those remaining, you have the young and healthy who forego insurance because they choose to spend their money elsewhere, those who can afford to pay out of pocket, the millions of illegal aliens and people who are temporarily between jobs or long-term unemployed. The WHO stats are skewed. For example, in the matter of infant mortality, the U.S. counts every birth. Other countries don't count as live births infants below a certain weight or gestational age because they aren't as likely to survive. Once beyond infancy, America catches up with the average life expectancy stats. We have much higher survival rates for all types of cancer as well as heart disease. Far in excess of the U.K. (which has survival rates lower than those for Europe as a whole.) Countries with government-run healthcare save money by relying on the U.S. to pay the research and development costs for new medical technologies and medications. Doctors in the U.K. are paid less and have less autonomy than those in the U.S. The last time I checked, one in every nine Canadian doctors come to the U.S. to practice. Others spend at least a portion of each year here. America is a very dynamic and complicated country. We also have a much larger and diverse population than you do. If our government ever succeeds in implementing socialized medicine here, it will be a spectacular failure.