Comments on: Poll: The Politics Of Health Care

Most Americans Favor Universal Health Care, Give Democrats Edge On Improving System

[realist1973]

I agree jpdunlop. Everyone wants the best care possible, but they don't want to pay for it.

[jpdunlop]

The mantra chanted over the past decade "universal healthcare" has been repeated so often by the liberal politicians and media that people like its nice sound, even though they don't even think through about what it truly means...which is "CERTAIN DISASTER"!

Having lived in the U.K. for several years - you really don't want to go there for healthcare (universal or otherwise). We are becoming a socialistic "I want everything for nothing" land of losers.

[ateamatl]

As a cancer patient, I would not want to wait for the government to tell me which doctor I have to see. I would not want to face the challenge people in the UK are facing - over a year on the waiting list for cancer treatment. I listened to Tony Blair on CSPAN express is long term goal is to get the wait to 6 months. Short term goal 12 months. I do NOT trust the U.S. Congress to get anyting right anymore. They blame each other from one election to the next. They along with the media have made a mockery of very serious problems. Who would not vote for everyone to have health care insurance? But who do I believe in the media? I certainly do not belive there are more than a handful of politicians who give a flip about me & my family.

[realist1973]

There is both a tremendous amount of misinformation and naiveti associated with the issue of universal healthcare. The left wants to change the system, so they do most of the 'research' and conduct the polls. Take for example the oft quoted 47 million "Americans." What they don't tell you is that 1/4 of these 47 million uninsured people are illegal Americans. Why are illegal immigrants included in this number other than to wildly inflate it? And how many of the remaining 35 million (still a large number, I agree) are between the ages of 18 and 25 and choose to own a cell phone and make car payments on their new Jetta instead of paying for health insurance? We'll never know because these important details do not serve the left's purpose.
Naive statements from other posters abound: "If we had a universal health care system everyone with non-emergency problems would be directed to primary care clinics as opposed to 47 million of them showing up at emergency rooms." The fact is, even a Medicaid population that has full access to primary care during normal business hours still often chooses to come to the ER on the weekend because they're working during the week or because it better suits them for one reason or another. They'll still do it with universal healthcare. There's also the too common fallacy that all of our healthcare woes will be solved through preventative medicine. Let's leave it at this: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him want a colonoscopy.

[soccermom1968]

If all the overweight people on tv could stop talking about the need for national health care I'd be grateful. If you look at what a health plan pays for through insurance, you'd know it's treatment for PREVENTABLE DISEASES. Anyone have any idea how much more overweight people spend on health care services per year? How much more people who smoke cost our health care industry? Why should I pay for that? I'd rather see our government take the money spent on health care reform and cure cancer instead.

[ateamatl]

Who would not want everyone to have medical insurance? I was watching CSPAN in the middle of the night [within the last two weeks] and Tony Blair was involved in a Q & A. The panel was trying to resolve the long standing problem with national health care - the waiting time to get to a doctor. I was very surprised to hear Tony Blair tell the panel a huge problem is cancer treatment. Their main goal Blair said was to eventually get the wait down to 6 months. The short time goal is to reduce the wait for cancer patients to get treatment to One (1) Year! A a cancer survivor who has some pre-cancerous cells now in my body, I would never want to wait on my government to get the chemo treatment I needed. My daughter-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 27 & 7 months pregnant. There were a team of doctors - doctors she trust & chose - who timed surgery while she was still pregnant & a C-Section to deliver the baby at the most safe time so she could start chemo treatments. What if she had to wait on the GOVERNMENT? I 100% do NOT trust the U.S. Congress to get anything right anymore. Do your readers have any idea that many countries who have national health care - Denmark, Sweden, UK and many others give 50-70% of their income to the government for lousy health care....they come the rich come to America for health care.

[john_galt27]

I love reading comments about evil Republicans and stupid liberals. The best thing one can do is live in a Socialist country, which I have for ten years +. You find that there is an element of people who love socialist medicine cause they do like paying for it and mostly do not want to work. They want their money to be spent on what they want, no what they need. The other group has to pay the socialist tax, plus get their own private insurance so they actually get service. So when we talk about how great socialist medicine is, obviously those who agree either never lived in a foreign Country, love to have coverage so they can spend money on what they want, love to have no choices, love to be told sorry you are too old for heart surgery, and at the end of the day, do not desire Freedom. Grow up and stop being little children.

[bellal-2009]

Well put, PETA.

[peta7-2009]

I think you have to ask yourself...where do we cap national healthcare? The funds will not be endless. Social Security is a set fee per month. Health care is not! If your mother has a malignant illness that requires a medication that costs $2000/wk (and that can be a much higher number) and she is on this indefinitely but it will prolong her life for months to years wouldn't you want her to have that. I would. Now, multiply this woman by hundreds of thousands with cancer, as well as the people with various other illness. This would simply destroy our "national health care" fund. Socialized medicine is simply disasterous to those who CAN afford health coverage. Why punish the majority to MINIMALLY cover the minority? I believe that we have to find a middle ground. If we do not, you will see a mass exodus of physicians, major hospitals will nearly shut down and the millions they employ will be out. The quality of care will precipitously plunge as waits to get into see the doctor that is not even your first choice multiply by 10 fold. Think this through. Liberals fall hardcore to the SOCIAL system, and some repubs think that the capital market is the way to go. USE previous examples and find a compromise!

[bellal-2009]

Exactly, rhs648. Not only that but it will stagnate R&D. I mean it's good in theory to have the govt. find cures for disease but govt. can't do ANYTHING anymore. Everything it touches turns to an expensive mess.

[rhs648]

"Wait a minute they just said Medicare was going to bankrupt America. If that's true what's universal health care going to do."

Not only that, we are told that social security is in trouble. On top of that, we are told that America can't afford the new prescription benefit for the elderly. Do we trust that universal health care will fare any better? Government control means fewer choices, less freedom to choose your own doctor, medical rationing, and long waits for treatment, sometimes months. Just ask the Candians and the British, two pioneers of universal health care. And will government do it for less?

[bellal-2009]

It's not sustainable. The whole thing needs reform and also education for the young to save for their retirement.

[bellal-2009]

dallison7, you keep repeating yourself on this issue. Everyone knows the emergency room situation.

[dallison7]

So many challenged people in this country simply cannot understand the concept of universal health care. It would be a tremendous improvement from our current system of waste. This country has approximately 47 million uninsured citizens. Those people do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. When they get sick, flu or anything else, they go to the emergency room because law requires all emergency rooms to give them care without collecting fees if they cannot afford it. The cost of these fees is passed on to the rest of us in the form of taxes and higher medical costs. Emergency rooms at hospitals all across the country are jammed with these people. Wait times at the ER where my wife works is sometimes as much as 12 hours.

Further, the average cost of a visit to the emergency room is $1500, while the cost of a visit to a primary care provider is $75.

If we had a universal health care system everyone with non-emergency problems would be directed to primary care clinics as opposed to 47 million of them showing up at emergency rooms.

If this 47 million people only visit the doctor once every two years the savings would be $33 billion per year.

[bellal-2009]

Wait a minute they just said Medicare was going to bankrupt America. If that's true what's universal health care going to do.