Barack Obama announced yesterday that he intends push to get “universal healthcare” passed as soon as possible. That sounds like a nice idea until you find out what a disaster universal or national healthcare really is.
Both Canada and Britain have installed national healthcare and the results are terrible. Under national healthcare the government decides what care you get, who provides it and when you can get treated.
There are endless horror stories about national healthcare systems because you are not able to see the type of doctor you need until your turn comes. This could be months and regardless of how serious your condition is, you wait your turn.
A recent news story from Canada told of a woman who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and told it would be 6 months before she could see a neurosurgeon. Fortunately for her, she had the resources to come to the US and was able to be treated by a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. How many others haven’t been so lucky?
Another well publicized story from Britain concerns women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. There is a new drug available which may cure many of them but it is expensive and the British healthcare system will not let them have it.
I know our healthcare system has flaws but it is still the best in the world. Why do so many people from around the world come here for medical care? This includes one of the members of the Saudi Arabian royal family who makes an annual visit to the Mayo Clinic. He can afford the best medical care in the world and comes here.
Our system requires any hospital to provide emergency care to anyone regardless of ability to pay. Nonemergency problems can be treated at free health clinics available in most counties in the US.
If you want an indication of how bad Obama’s nationalized healthcare would be, just look at what he has done with the auto industry and financial institutions. Do you really know of anything that improves under government control?
Democrat Senator Tom Harkin has stated that the healthcare reform bill will cost another 1 Trillion dollars. We’re already 2 Trillion deep in a hole they’ve already dug. Financial experts are already warning that our current debt load is not sustainable.
Nationalized healthcare will not improve our medical system. It will turn it into another government bureaucracy and drive some of the most talented doctors into retirement.
For your own sake, I hope you’ll voice your opposition before its too late. Government has no right to come between you and your doctor.
