It's not that the government can't manage healthcare reasonably well. It's that 1)The American people don't want the government managing it and 2)The private sector can manage it much better.
Well, the private sector is making a right pig's ear of it. If your government is going to do it so much worse, then I think you need a new government.
Speak honestly now: If the NHS is so Universally Loved in the UK, then how can David Cameron even have a plank of his platform about "hiving off the NHS to the private sector?" It should be political suicide, no? Yet somehow, he's the Prime Minister . . .
Because he had no such plank in his platform. He said, loud and long, during the election campaign, that the NHS was safe in his hands. That he knew how great it was and how much people relied on it, because of his experience with Ivan. If he'd had a breath of a hint about hiving the NHS off on to the private sector, we would not have a Tory government right now. He said the exact opposite, during the election.
We believed him. (I didn't vote for him, but I actually did believe that bit of propaganda, because of Ivan. Time will tell how wrong I was.)
Why do you complain about these people? You don't mind them getting an expensive transplant or spinal surgery, but you would deny them 1)Rights to have as many kids as they want to, 2)A publicly provided shelter and 3)Publicly provided food. So, in your mind Healthcare is a fundamental right, but not Food and Shelter . . . . hmmmmm a bit of a disconnect there I think.
Oh, I don't complain about them, really. But people do, you know. Complain if you like, no skin off my nose. Sells tabloid newspapers and keeps third-rate journalists off the streets. I certainly wouldn't deny people any of the things you suggested I would.
What I was pointing out was that in Britain you will certainly hear people grumbling and complaining about "scroungers" getting subsidised housing and unemployment benefit. You will
never hear people complaining about anyone getting free healthcare, any more than you'd hear them complaining about free schooling for their children.
Oh, I see: Driving is a right! Parks are a right! Libraries are a right! Education is a right!
No Rolfe, those things are privileges that a wealthy nation can provide to it's citizens.
You need to be clearer about what rights are. Rights are things that a society grants to its members. So yes, driving on public roads is a right, if you have a car which is legally taxed and MOTed. Going into public parks is a right. Joining a public library and borrowing books is a right. Sending your children to the local school is a right (indeed, it's an obligation unless you can convince the authorities that you have adequate alternative arrangements in place).
And in Britain, healthcare free at the point of need is a right.
You guys have a different society which has decided on a different set of rights. Your privilege.
Just to be clear here: You don't complain about them getting access to the privileges of a modern society, but you complain when they have 8 kids and mooch off the public food and shelter. How do you resolve the cognitive dissonance implicit in such a position?
Unless of course they need food and shelter. Moochers!
But those same feckless people who get their diabetes treated shouldn't live off the public dole for food and shelter? Hmm, interesting. Don't deny the public the benefits of healthcare, just don't provide them with the benefit of life-giving food and shelter. Got it. I wonder what the NHS would recommend for treating malnutrition?
I think you've exposed a hole in your thinking here, Rolfe.
You're not getting it, are you. I'll say it again. Some people in Britain, people who read the
Daily Fail and suchlike, complain about people having 8 kids and mooching off public food and shelter. It's a national pastime. However, you will not hear these complainers complaining about the "scroungers" having access to free healthcare.
It was a statement about societal attitudes in Britain. Work it out.
Uh, Rolfe, anything paid for by the government
is run by the government. This is like saying, "The IRS is not the government. The IRS is paid for by the government. It's
run by the agents, although the government does tweak them a bit by hypothecating payments to encourage things it sees as desirable outcomes, such as making sure people pay their taxes and punishing those who don't."
How you imagine a universal healthcare system could be implemented without it being paid for at least to some extent by the govermnent, I have no idea. Feel free to elaborate though.
Rolfe.
