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BrokenSpiceRack hits the bullseye on this one. Chaser712 does start with a "C" and "C" does stand for communist. Do not vote for communists they are bad. Socialized medicine is Communist medicine!

Laminator | 02/14/08

Good grief, people, why can't everyone see that socialized ANYTHING is not a good thing. I know it sounds great, but read about how it's been working for Canada and England. It's not good, folks, not good at all. People have waited for long periods of time for simple procedures, and sometimes even for the serious ones too. Paying your own way will ALWAYS be better for everything, whether it be healthcare or whatever. The free market is a good thing; it promotes competition which leads to cheaper prices and better service. If everything is socialized and run by the federal government there's no reason for things to get better because there's no competition. If you understand how the economy really works you must understand how this makes sense.

jruss75 | 02/14/08

Good grief, people, why can't everyone see that socialized ANYTHING is not a good thing. I know it sounds great, but read about how it's been working for Canada and England. It's not good, folks, not good at all. People have waited for long periods of time for simple procedures, and sometimes even for the serious ones too. Paying your own way will ALWAYS be better for everything, whether it be healthcare or whatever. The free market is a good thing; it promotes competition which leads to cheaper prices and better service. If everything is socialized and run by the federal government there's no reason for things to get better because there's no competition. If you understand how the economy really works you must understand how this makes sense.

jruss75 | 02/14/08

Sorry, I didn't mean to post the same thing twice.

jruss75 | 02/14/08

Good grief close-minded-conservatives. Why can???t you understand that socialized medicine will not eliminate the ability for the wealthy to select a provider or receive prompt and top notch care? Besides, the currently proposed mandates and subsidies for Health Care are far from socialized medicine. I???m a communist and it???s a Party!

Bird Turgler | 02/14/08

Who do you as a representative of the vast socialist conspiracy describe as "the rich" ? Income earners? Business owners? anyone not on government assistance?

Steve from Indiana | 02/14/08

Steve- I do not use the term "the wealthy" in any pejorative sense. I simply mean that those who can afford to do so, will retain the ability to make consumer health care choices; the very same health care choices they fear loosing to communism. To get back to your original inquiry, "the rich" are those who do not earn their income and who receive massive government assistance.

Bird Turgler | 02/14/08

I work in healthcare - just about everybody I know who works in healthcare is planning on LEAVING THE HEALTHCARE FIELD if we are forced to work in a socialized healthcare system. If you think it is hard to find a physician or an ER in many parts of the country now, wait until we have "free healthcare." What are the libs going to do then, force us to remain in the healthcare field? At the proposed $20 a visit fee limit, my practice, my family and myself would starve.

K. West | 02/15/08

Chaser...you think you've got paperwork now, wait until the govn't gets it's hands on medicine more than it already has now. You'll be doing your paperwork at home and weekends and the patients will wait longer..

Gemma | 02/16/08

It's the insurance industry that needs regulation, hardcore. The profit motive is incompatible with the Hippocratic Oath, and that's the bottom line. "First, Do No Harm" runs counter to an industry that protects its profit margin by refusing to pay for "unnecessary" medical care, or denying care on pretexts. We have an insurance industry that refuses to pay for appropriate medication - talk to ANYONE who has had a transplant about this, they have to fight tooth and nail for anti-rejection medication. People who are afraid of government intervention in the health care field are simply scared silly - emphasis on the silly - because they put far too much stock in the notion that private enterprise somehow always knows best. Reagan was quite wrong, I'm afraid - government is, in fact, sometimes the solution to the problem, and here is a prime example.

Old New Dealer | 02/16/08

From doctors to insurance providers, the healthcare industry is fleecing America. It is an outrage that costs have spiraled out of control for so long, the result of unbridled capitalism with far too little government regulation. How can the cost of a hospital bed be 1200$ a DAY when a two bedroom apartment on the same street can be had for 900$ a MONTH? The only answer conservatives have vs. socialized medicine is scare tactics. I say come what may; it cant be worse than what we have already.

Jonah | 02/16/08

There's a difference between care and coverage. The U.S. already has universal health care in the true sense of the phrase. Emergency rooms are required by law to give treatment regardless of ability to pay. It is not "scare tactics" to point out the many failings of government run health care as practiced in many countries. It is not scare tactics to see that removing market incentives stifles innovation as well as results in poor allocation of resources. And yes, it can be much worse than what we have now.

Grst | 02/16/08

If we had socialized medicine how many dollars do you think would go to Africa for AIDS relief....0, nada, none....there wouldn't be any, nor would there be any innovation in medical care to allow for the types of drugs needed in the future. Socialized anything means the poor stay poorer, the middle class disappears and, the fat cats get fatter while the money disappears.

Gemma | 02/17/08

Everyone thinks that socialized medicine is going to increase prices. but that is 100% wrong. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's plans create universal healthcare at a low cost while still allowing the rich to choose different healthcare plans. we need it.

Mark | 02/17/08