Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
I'm not big on these kinds of political wrangles, personally, but I do have a comment regarding governments taking over health care systems.

I won't trust any such takeover unless ALL government employees and, most especially, ALL elected officials are enrolled completely in the same system as everyone else must use. No special perks for fat-cat Congressmen, no private clinics for bureaucrats, no sweetheart prescription deals for anyone. Everyone gets treated the same. There are too many instances in this country, and especially in the communist countries, where the people who make the rules are exempt from them.

If I know that I'm getting the same level of care as a Senator, at the same cost, then I'll trust a government controlled system. Otherwise, it's just another panacea to help control the masses.
Thorne, there are many great remarks made on this thread but your remark has as great of merit as any. As you point out, as long as there is a political system in any country, there will be sweet heart deals for those in power. Of course, it is possible to live in a country where the poor are in power and the hard working wealthy land owners are hanged or beheaded. But that sounds a little extreme but it has happened.

Every time I think my mind is made up about universal health care, I hear a very logical opposing view to what I believe. The ant and the grasshopper, at first thought I would like to allow the grasshopper to starve, after all, he should have planned better for the winter. This applies to those who bought homes that they could not afford. I am willing to let them sleep on the streets at first;but like the ant, I feel sorry for them.

If it were possible to have utopia health care, I would be for it. Sense I don't think it is possible, I am against it. The health care we have is the best in the world. I planned for health care when I entered the job market at the level I was happy with. My insurance company just paid a $200,000 yearly health bill for me. If health care was totally a government monopoly, I am sure that I would be dead. So would millions of others like me also. I am happy that there was the freedom to plan for my health care instead of trusting to Joe politician. It just has not worked very well to surrender your freedoms to the government in terms of health care. We have the right to health care if we have the wisdom to search in pursuit of happiness but the fellow who drunk beer at the bar while I studied in college does not have this right by his own choice.

Don't get me wrong, I like grasshoppers but it is hard not to step on them when they are all over the floor. Sometimes you must simply sweep them out the door. Seriously, I don't know what course to follow. Thanks everybody for offering your opinions to us that don't know.