I have. I was under government ran health care for all the years I was in the military. It was a mess.
Put aside theory for a moment and see how government ran health care has operated in the real world. Look at the examples of the VA, military health care, Medicare, and Medicaid and compare them to your theory. They're all struggling, the costs are high and increasing, and the quality keeps dropping. That's why every year or so, the politicians keep pledging to "Save Medicare". They wouldn't have to keep saving it if it worked.
In the real world, it's common to build a prototype of something before trying to build the real article. The prototype is used to develop technology and test ideas. I consider Medicare as the prototype for national health care. If they can't make health care work for Medicare, what could possibly make me believe think they can somehow apply the same failed ideas to everyone and make it work? It has been said that one definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and somehow expect different results.
Academic theorists love to talk about how failed ideas like socialism can work "if the right people are in charge" (meaning themselves, of course). However, there are a lot of factors in the real world that undermine theoritical idealism, such as the nature of politics in the process. Anyone who thinks they can eliminate politics from a nationalized health care system is naive at best, more likely a fool. Politics has been described as the "art of compromise" or "the art of the possible", and that always works against some theoritical perfection.
You don't have to take my word for it, look at the actual legislation being proposed. If they were interested in maintaining market forces, why would they outlaw private insurance? Why would they make it a crime to seek or provide health care outside the nationalized system?
Current Events » in reply to Riiiight, Larry....
Have you actually lived under government ran health care?
The whole thread (30 posts)
- National Health Care still lurking out there...
- Priorities. Not to worry.
- Yayyy John Conyers! Up with socialized medicine! The real right to life movement! :-) (nt) (n/t)
- God, I wish they still taught economics in schools. (n/t) (n/t)
- God, I wish they taught common sense where you went to school (nt) (n/t)
- common sense
- Funny how they've never been able to make Medicare work...
- It's good to be an engineer.
- Economic unobtainium
- Watching this orgy of chior practice with great enjoyment (NT) (n/t)
- While your "economics of wishful thinking" is rather pathetic
- Watching this orgy of chior practice with great enjoyment (NT) (n/t)
- Economic unobtainium
- It's good to be an engineer.
- Funny how they've never been able to make Medicare work...
- common sense
- God, I wish they taught common sense where you went to school (nt) (n/t)
- God, I wish they still taught economics in schools. (n/t) (n/t)
