If there are people on your email list who think health care reform will erode the quality of health care in America, email this list of links to them.
T.R. Reid, “5 Myths About Health Care Around the World”
Ed Pilkington, “Dying for affordable healthcare — the uninsured speak”
Stephen Amidon, “Why I love Britain’s socialized healthcare system”
Paul E. Barber, “My Brain and the Ontario Health-Care System“
maha,
Why are you linking these? These are nothing more than articles planted by the socialist, nihilist, communist, fascist, Islamasist supporters of Herr Comrade Hussein Obama. These are an insult to the greatest health care system the Universe has ever known.
Oh, shoot! It’s Saturday, isn’t it? Damn! And I forgot to call my doctor yesterday and ask for more free blood pressure pills that he’s kind enough to give since I don’t have health care. He won’t be back until Monday. I guess I’ll have to split my last pill in 3 to last until then.
But if I had it, dammit, it would be the greatest health care system the Universe has ever known!!!
While I appreciate the links, I can say that the automatic response to most of these will be that they are from liberal media sources so they aren’t worthy of consideration. What I really need are total non-partisan sources or a counter argument to theirs.
Chris, to hard-core righties, “liberal media sources” are any source that publishes something they don’t want to believe. That’s a no-win. The only people worth trying to persuade are people who aren’t solidly ideological but are confused by all the spin.
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maha, methinks that people confused by all the spin are all ideologues. I speak from having tried to ‘clear’ the spun air for a few obstructionists and encountering what can best be described as a dead zone. (It’s that old don’t-confuse-me-with-the-facts syndrome so prevalent in the world of the brain-dead among us.)
I live in Ontario and am completely satisfied with the health care that I and my family receive. I have had two major operations in the past 10 years. My cost was $72.00 to cover the little TV in my hospital room. The extremists on the right call this socialism but really, when the government provides health care for it’s citizens how is that any different than providing police or fire service?
We have our oligarchs too (see Alberta Tar Sands) but I suspect that the special interests in the USA are much more powerful to the detriment of citizens. Another thing that I like about Canada is that citizens DO NOT have a constitutional right to bear arms.
My comment on Paul Barber’s posting:
The Canadians have done the right thing for their citizens. I am an American, and I think our system of for profit medicine is a shame, a disgrace, and is broken beyond repair, but we won’t repair it because our elites don’t want it-it would cost them too much money. The other thing preventing any reform is the divisions of race and class that exist in the United States. A small group of senators from small states and angry mobs heated up by astroturf (fake grassroots) groups and ignorant talk show hosts are able to help stifle any reform even though the ordinary people belonging to the mobs would benefit from much-needed reform. Sadly, I think we Americans stand as a prime example of what not to do.
On another note, my brother had an astrocytoma removed when he was 15, he is now 39, and one of my sisters and I both have high blood pressure. My brother has Medicaid/SSI and my sister and I are both fortunate to be insured through group plans. None of us could purchase private coverage, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Sadly, I think we will see no change, more uninsured, and more bankruptcies due to inadequate or non-existent medical coverage. As a former bankruptcy practitioner, I am interested in seeing the results of Prof. Elizabeth Warren’s national study of bankruptcies filed and how much of them are due to inadequate or non-existent coverage. I fear there are way too many.
Let me endorse Chris. To a right wing xenophobe, saying other countries might have something to teach us translates as you hate America and want to turn us into a socialist nightmare gulag like, oh, say, Switzerland. Seriously!
Without major reform, I see healthcare as one more business need we will be outsourcing in the future. While talking to a co-worker, he said if you need medical treatment, go to India. There you can get a $500.00+ crown put on a tooth for $100.00.