Thank God Ted Kennedy Didn’t Have to Use Universal Healthcare

3 Responses to “Thank God Ted Kennedy Didn’t Have to Use Universal Healthcare”

Trackbacks

Comments

1. Lorie Sheffer on May 19th, 2008 10:05 am
   

   My son, who is now in medical school, spent 6 months in the UK and saw their Universal healthcare system first hand. It isn’t flawless, but neither do they have people dying because they can’t afford to see a doctor. Perhaps their health care system is why their life expectancy is longer than in the US? The US ranks about 35th in the world. I don’t understand why people seem to freak out over the idea of universal healthcare. Isn’t that what our public school system is? Our police departments? Can you imagine needing pre approval from your fire department before they would answer your 911 call? Insurance companies are BUSINESSES and their main concern is to MAKE A PROFIT. Ask some people who live in countries where healthcare is a given. I have, and I gained a whole new perspective than your “cartoon” depicts.
2. Jenn Sierra on May 19th, 2008 10:45 am
   

   Thank you for your comments, Lori. With all due respect, however to you and your son, I would have to disagree that universal healthcare is better than what we have now. What we have now is pretty bad. But I’ve just heard from too many people in Europe and Canada who are so frustrated because the are not able to get in to see a doctor for basic medical care. Sure, it’s free, if you can ever get there, but they will tell you, first hand, that “you get what you pay for.”

   I’m sure you can appreciate tha your son, an American medical student, may have had a slightly different perspective from someone who actually has had to LIVE under the healthcare system of a country their whole lives. I would challenge your son and any medical student interetested, as he is, in world health care, to talk to the people who actually live in the country, and are traveling to the U.S. to get healthcare for themselves and their families…and find out why.

   AS for the life expectancy rates, I believe there are many factors that play a larger roll, starting with lack of prevenative measures in our lifestyle (stress, amount of hours sitting in offices), diet (ridiculous amounts of processed foods), and lack of exercize.
3. Logo on May 20th, 2008 5:51 pm
   

   I appreciate your opinion, but I must say that I feel that:

   It is almost criminally ignorant to use life expectancy as a yardstick for medical care.

   It is widely known that lifestyle and genetics play huge roles in both health and longevity.

   Trying to claim that longer/shorter life expectancy are entirely or even mostly the fault of any modern medical system is a shameful, abusive lie that does more than mislead; it harms.

   The life expectancy argument is a harmful political tactic because by trying to place blame on medical systems, it dis-empowers the individual.

   Telling people they can/should vote themselves healthy robs people of something vital; personal control over their own lives.

   Far more important than voting are the every-day personal decisions that are proven beyond any reasonable doubt to far far far outweigh everything else: what to eat/avoid at the next meal, whether to drink alcohol (and how much), sex (who/when/how), whether to pick up a cigarette or go for a walk, etc.

   One may be able to find other, more rational arguments supporting state-healthcare and we should all welcome those.

   However, lying to people to further political ends is wrong. It’s not OK; it hurts people. Truth is the way to health: Let medicine derive from science; keep partisan politics out of health care.

This comment section is for the readers of Ft. Hard Knox, a place for political conservatives to share information about online activism. We are not "fair and balanced," and we aren't refereeing a "free speech zone." Intelligent, funny, and on-topic comments are welcome. Trolls, spam, and liberal propaganda are not. We may occassionally approve a comment with an obvious lefty-slant so that we can amuse ourselves by making fun of it, but most will be deleted. (Why? Because we're busy, we have lives, and when we want to talk to you we'll go visit you on Digg or the Daily KOS.)

This is a private blog, and we reserve the right to make up our own rules as we go along. The few comments which manage to squeak by our censors reflect the opinion of the commentator, and not necessarily the staff of Ft. Hard Knox.

...and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!