Comments on: The Battle Between the Right to Medical Care vs. Government ‘Medicine’

By: Coaches in the spotlight - Pro Football Weekly - Coaches in the spotlight, Pro Football Weekly, Jenkins, Jenkins, …, , Generated by Trend Spotter, Generated by Trend Spotter, Generated by Trend Spotter, Generated by Trend Spotter, Generated by Trend Spott

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:42:51 +0000

[...] The Liberty Papers »Blog Archive » The Battle Between a Right to … [...]

By: Jono

Jono — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:18:22 +0000

I should add a link to an excellent report from an Australian free-market think tank that points out the number of beds per 1000 patients has gone from 4.8 down to 2.5 over 20 years, and it provides 10 suggestions to improve our health system:

http://www.cis.org.au/policy_monographs/pm99.pdf

By: Jono

Jono — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:15:35 +0000

Terrific post, because it really does an excellent job of explaining the kind of horrific outcomes we’ve seen in most socialized health systems.

Costs go up, waiting lists grow, rationing takes place, the amount of bureaucracy and red tape keeps growing at an exponential red tape.

Here in Australia, over the last 20 years, the amount of health spending has nearly tripled, but the number of hospital beds per 1000 people has halved. There has been a 70% rise in administrative costs between 2002-2006, so clearly the money is being wasted on paper shuffling.

By: Gary M. Ruehle

Gary M. Ruehle — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:38:24 +0000

Medical care could be almost free to everyone if we got rid of the “for profit” insurance companies that deny service to hundreds of thousands of qualified customers to pay their criminal CEO’s hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars in salaries and bonuses. NO ONE is worth this kind of money. WHY is not the FBI, the Justice Dept and others going after these criminal enterprises under the RICO act? They are NOT providing the services we are paying for, they are denying service to we the people to get their obscene salaries, mansions, yachts, jet aircraft etc and we have to die to provide them! No wonder medical tourism is getting so big. A private room in a state of the art hospital in Thailand only cost $45.00 per day! NOT $1,500 like in America. You can get a heart bypass in Bangkok for $12,000, NOT the $135,000 it cost in the U.S. and you have a free incredable exotic Asian vacation for FREE. Check our http://www.theanewyou.com for information on how this works and how simple it is to be a medical tourist in one of the most beautiful and friendly countries in Asia. Gary )^_^)

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:08:30 +0000

To a certain extent, my job had a charity character to it, in that we served all who came through our doors, but I lost my job because the agency gave that service to another agency that promised to do it better and cheaper, which was not the case. The charitable aspect has merit, but, being dependent upon a constant unknown, the services are usually at risk of having no funding. The other problem, as I see it, is that we have the notion of personal responsibility and that mental illness is an individual’s problem, but, I think that depression and PTSD, among other damaging mental states, are directly impacted by our culture and social structure. The focus on materialism, need, greed, and youth, not to mention “sex sells,” creates the conditions of an unhealthy environment. I see us all on the continuum, although it is not linear, and the addiction to money or power is no better than an addiction to sex or drugs. We just happen to want to emulate those that have money and power. The sickness is inherent in our society.

By: tarran

tarran — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:09:40 +0000

The idea that we have to make a choice between your friend dying in the street and being cared for by the government is a false dichotomy.

Rather, I’m sure the millions of people who support the idea of government provisioning of health care would be able to make charitable contributions to handle that sort of thing.

Moreover, I doubt a charity catering to very ill schizophrenics would make a prospective patient fill out paperwork as a precondition for treating him.

Speaking for myself, I have no problem with people receiving care they can’t afford. I just have a problem with the government doing it since it uses extortion and threats of violence to acquire the resources it uses. Charities that are dependent on voluntary contributions are far more compassionate and peaceful.

By: John222

John222 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:11:46 +0000

Dan, Thanks for the visual. I once ran into a crazy lady in a parking lot. I’m not really sure what it has to do with the above post. I thought the essay was great. I hope some of the people on another thread take the time to read it.

I don’t have all the answers either, but I am open to ideas. Especially those that are truly compassionate by increasing availability and reducing costs so that the poorest among us can afford the care they need.

Reisman’s ideas have merit, as do some others I have seen in the past few days, but how do you explain that to people who believe two plus two equals five?

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:11:38 +0000

I knew a person, Mike, he was not my friend, because, He said, “Schizophrenics have no friends.” But he liked to talk to me. When I first met him, he bit a hole in his arm rather than eat, because he was certain that if he ate food given to him, he would send us all to hell. I usually met him after he quit taking his meds and became so psychotic that his family or the place where he lived could no longer provide for him. Once, after not seeing him for two or three months, he called me to continue a conversation we had while walking the halls of a locked psychiatric unit. I think he trusted me a bit, but, his world did not include economics, except for cartons of cigarettes that his mother finally agreed to provide for him. It took a long time to get him on SSDI and medicaid because he would sign a paper or he would take all the paperwork and dispose it somewhere. During that time, I worked with damaged people because I wanted to eat that $15 steak and have others pay for my expensive habits. I must have been crazy. I cleaned people’s feces and vomit from their faces, and the floor, and I saw the torment of the possessed, if you want to call it that. I am now damaged, due to an infection that has been cured, finally, but at this time, I am unable to find work. I fell and hit my head for $4000 in ER bills. It must have been my fault, and I owe the debt. Now Mike felt he owed a greater debt, chained himself to a tree, dumped gasoline on his head and smoked a cigarette. His screams still haunt those hearing him that night. I have no answers in the health care debate, but I wonder how any of you would dance to the tune of Mike’s piper.