We don't need universal health care

By: Adam Brown

Posted: 10/8/08

Those of you who want national health care should look hard at our current forms of national health care. The Veterans Affairs health care system is a good example of what a national health care system might be like. It is not all that it is cracked up to be.

Overall, second-rate doctors with hand-me-down equipment for the nation's bravest and best is what one can expect. It seems that when medicine goes from private to business, the friendly, caring environment and the best professional care you can expect is replaced by a cold institution where everything operates on a schedule. For example, when a Marine from Minnesota sought help when he had suicidal thoughts, he was put on a list and told to come back in a few weeks. He hung himself a few days later.

Ask any veteran who has been there and they will tell you it is less than welcoming or what is deserved. I have been to these providers, then had to go to private practices to receive the best care available. If this is how they treat America's bravest, I can assure you not much is to be expected for normal, everyday citizens.

Massachusetts has instituted a form of public health care and their residents are forced to pay for coverage; people face financial penalties for not doing so. Although people can file for exemptions due to income, this doesn't dispute the fact that in a "free" country, one is forced to buy health care. When did we allow the government to tell us what we can and cannot do for our bodies?

Marjorie Baldwin, an economist and director of the School of Health Management and Policy at the W.P. Carey School of Business, said this about foreign forms of national health care, "But there are long waits to receive health care there. For instance, in Britain, everyone is assigned a primary care doctor who handles referrals for specialty care. If your problem is urgent, you can see a specialist in one month; if it's not urgent, it may take up to a year." If you have an emergency, I doubt you can wait a month to be seen; after all, it is an emergency.

If you do your own research, you will see that this would be imprudent. I understand many people who cannot afford health care would receive some form of it, but at whose expense? How many ill-advised outcomes will result from this impersonal system?

America cannot afford any more forms of welfare. Instead, doctors should offer discounted care and pro bono. After all, most people become doctors not for the money, but to help people. I know that there are some die-hard national health care advocates out there, but many do not know about these forms of national health care and what is truly in store. What do you think Western? Let's hear about it.