Comments on: Millions of Americans With Socialized Medicine: We Call Them Soldiers

By: Free Range Librarian › Health Care: A Response to Ellie

Free Range Librarian › Health Care: A Response to Ellie — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:31:20 +0000

[...] Ellie Dworak posted about healthcare, noting that for her, “This is a really hard one to have a conversation about without getting [...]

By: Kathy Whalen

Kathy Whalen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:21:33 +0000

I have been on the move and not really reading your blog–having been elbowed out of librarianship, I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about all things library–but then I check back in and there you go again–brilliant post!! I have mixed feelings about being an American expat in the UK, but the NHS is fabulous, really amazing. To someone who struggled to afford health insurance at home, it feels like a gift to have health care “at the point of need” for free.

By: Just a reader

Just a reader — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:16:31 +0000

I’m a military wife and a veteran, so I’ve had care as a military person and as a family member. In the US, spouses and families don’t use the base services for everything anymore – we have Tricare insurance and pay for it (it’s a nominal cost and coverage is really good).

I think the military and Tricare systems are great, but there are some things to remember:

- Active duty military people are all relatively young and healthy. If you have pre-existing conditions, the military won’t take you. So they’re saving money there.

- You as a patient can’t sue if something goes wrong. So they’re saving money there.

- Doctors and staff are mostly military people too. They don’t make $100k+ per year.

- Funding for active duty care comes out the defense budget, AFAIK, and there is a LOT of cash for this.

So yes, it works very well, and I would love all Americans to have the same care I do, but there are circumstances which a lot of people don’t take into account.

By: Ellie Dworak

Ellie Dworak — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:02:10 +0000

Hi Karen –

This is a really hard one to have a conversation about without getting emotional. As a token conservative librarian, here are my concerns:

* simply that it’s too expensive. Just because something is a nice idea doesn’t mean that we can afford it as a nation. Now, this one is arguable, I’m not sure if it’s the case.

* that the Obama administration is not being forthright about their plans. I worry that the regulations they are passing are in place to put private insurance out of business so that we only have a public option.

* that if we only have a public option, our medical system will no longer be the most innovative in the world. While it’s true that we are not a particularly healthy nation, this is the country where you want to live if you have the misfortune of getting very ill. My son died (and yes, the bills were terrible, even with insurance) and I was comforted by the fact that he has incredible, amazing, cutting edge care by a team of neurosurgeons, respiratory therapists, etc.

* that it isn’t morally right to require people (who may not believe in our western medical system) to purchase medical coverage.

I also want to say that I think you are misinterpreting the people who “compare” Obama to Hitler. I think what people who bring this up are saying is that we need to be cautious to honor our constitution because even Hitler was elected. We do not live in a pure Democracy, and I do not want to (if so, the majority always rules, and that’s scary – what if the majority hates gay people?). We live in a Republic, and one that’s predicated on basic rights and freedoms. And even when that is problematic, it is important, crucial even.

That said, all of the problems you bring up are indeed problems, and I would like to see solutions. I would like to be able to discuss solutions without being called out as a right wing nut. And I want to be respectful and kind.

By: David

David — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:20:40 +0000

If only the "fruitcake list" was getting the amount of news coverage that one expects fruitcakes to get, and not what they are getting: all of the news coverage. See also, last Sunday's Doonesbury.

By: Gordon Flagg

Gordon Flagg — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:11:30 +0000

If you ask me, the Godwin’s Law violators constitute the “fruitcake list.”

By: raspberry seed

raspberry seed — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:54:03 +0000

I would be interested to see how — and if — labor in this country would change, if people didn’t have to be “full-time, regular” administrative assistants or engineers or middle management, for IBM or Honeywell or General Mills, in order to have health coverage for their families. Shouldn’t the full-time staff of my dentist’s office have the same access to health-care coverage that I do as a librarian? They perform valuable services for many, and spend fully 1/3 of their lives on their feet, under fluorescent lights, with their hands in people’s mouths. Yet, as part of a staff of fewer than 20, their employer can’t afford a group plan to cover them. How about the people who work at the little yarn shop in town? Or artisan cheese makers? Or your accountant’s receptionist? Why does one half of every married/committed couple have to be indentured to some huge entity, if they don’t want to be at risk of losing *everything and more* in the event of a catastrophic illness in the family? This country *needs* a huge variety of people doing a huge variety of things for a living. We can’t all be administrative assistants and middle managers. How could that possibly map to “life, liberty *and the pursuit of happiness*”? Given the current health care situation in the U.S., our claim to being ‘a free country’ really is kind of nonsense.

By: George Duimovich

George Duimovich — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:41:57 +0000

Looking at this from outside the US, the discussion seems pretty skewed towards the extremist views from the wacky right. Here’s one example from National Review blogger Mark Steyn:

“Sarah Palin got it right on the “death panel” business, and finnicky conservative critics missed the point: Governmentalization of health care leads to rationing, and rationing leads to death panels — very literally.”

Ok, so how does the current private marketplace deal with “rationing” — I guess 47 million Americans without health insurance and the ‘hidden hand’ of the marketplace isn’t supposed to qualify as an efficient “death panel” mechanism?

Also worthy of note: most of the public systems around the world incorporate significant private sector participation.

It is very sad to watch how health care reform is getting so watered down and bashed around…