Socialized Medicine
At the beginning of his documentary “Sicko”, Michael Moore asks: “Who are we?”
We are the wealthiest of 25 industrialized countries, and the only one that doesn’t have universal health care. We are the nation that for more than 60 years, has allowed the medical-industrial complex and its political allies to used scare tactics to prevent America from following its conscience and making access to health care a right for all its citizens.
Health care should be recognized as a human right not a privilege. Unlike other industrialized countries our citizens don’t enjoy universal health care. Those citizens don’t enjoy the freedom to live their life with the certainty that forces beyond their control won’t take away their dignity and everything they own.
Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner for president warned at the debate in Manchester, New Hampshire: “Free market principles are the only things that reduce cost and improve quality. Socialized medicine will ruin medicine in the United States.”
Approximately, fifty percent of all healthcare dollars spent in the United States flows through government-funded healthcare systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.
America already has two large socialized medicine systems, which are called Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare’s overhead is only 1 percent, because it’s an extremely efficient healthcare delivery system. Most private health insurance plans range between 10 percent to 30 percent in overhead expenses, which include profits, and administrative costs.
Most doctors would rather have a Medicare patient than somebody with a lousy HMO, because they know Medicare will send them a check and they won’t have to fight an hour on the phone to get a $15 office visit paid for. Regrettably, Medicare is presently being undermined by privatization.
We don’t face unpleasant tradeoffs, because doing the right thing will be cost-efficient. Universal health care would save thousands of American lives each year, while saving money.
Michael Moore has painted a picture of a corrupt and fatally flawed health care system. The only things standing in the way of universal health care are the fear-mongering and influence-buying of special interest groups. If we can’t overcome those corrupting forces, there’s not much hope for America’s future.
We are the wealthiest of 25 industrialized countries, and the only one that doesn’t have universal health care. We are the nation that for more than 60 years, has allowed the medical-industrial complex and its political allies to used scare tactics to prevent America from following its conscience and making access to health care a right for all its citizens.
Health care should be recognized as a human right not a privilege. Unlike other industrialized countries our citizens don’t enjoy universal health care. Those citizens don’t enjoy the freedom to live their life with the certainty that forces beyond their control won’t take away their dignity and everything they own.
Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner for president warned at the debate in Manchester, New Hampshire: “Free market principles are the only things that reduce cost and improve quality. Socialized medicine will ruin medicine in the United States.”
Approximately, fifty percent of all healthcare dollars spent in the United States flows through government-funded healthcare systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs healthcare systems.
America already has two large socialized medicine systems, which are called Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare’s overhead is only 1 percent, because it’s an extremely efficient healthcare delivery system. Most private health insurance plans range between 10 percent to 30 percent in overhead expenses, which include profits, and administrative costs.
Most doctors would rather have a Medicare patient than somebody with a lousy HMO, because they know Medicare will send them a check and they won’t have to fight an hour on the phone to get a $15 office visit paid for. Regrettably, Medicare is presently being undermined by privatization.
We don’t face unpleasant tradeoffs, because doing the right thing will be cost-efficient. Universal health care would save thousands of American lives each year, while saving money.
Michael Moore has painted a picture of a corrupt and fatally flawed health care system. The only things standing in the way of universal health care are the fear-mongering and influence-buying of special interest groups. If we can’t overcome those corrupting forces, there’s not much hope for America’s future.
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