National Health Care

Ok. It looks like Obama is really serious about national health care, given that he just had a 1-hour televised Q & A session about it. Instead of recognizing his own good ideas, such as ending our wars in the Middle East, or develloping renewable energy, he has to go gung-ho on a bad idea.

Yes, I'm going to admit that my views are colored by the example of Canada. Living in the Detroit area, I'm right next to it. I even have some friends there. They're really big on alternative medicine and herbal supplements, because they don't dare get sick; they know they wouldn't be cared for. Their mother is slowly losing her ability to walk, and cannot get knee replacement surgery because the cut-off age is 55.

Now, I know painting a horror story out of an example of one family is the oldest trick in the book when it comes to persuasive arguments, but this isn't a worst-case horror story. It's what a typical Canadian family has to go through with their country's national health care. (It's also me being up front and honest about my personal reasons for disliking the Canadian system.)

Now, I know not all countries' national health care systems are the same, and that Canada is one of the worst, but still... it's hard for me to be persuaded it would be a good idea to devellop the same kind of system when people there are constantly heading across the border into America to get medical treatment here. If anything, the Canadians should be trying to remodel their dysfunctional health care system after ours.

I'm not saying health care in America is perfect. But I don't think it needs to have the guts ripped out of it. I'd much rather see an overhaul of the existing system. I'd like to see an attempt made to fix the current system before writing it off as a lost cause. At least in this private health care system people are allowed to choose their own doctors, and when all else fails, pay out of pocket for medical procedures; two things many national health care systems (such as Canada's) don't allow.

Yes, I have heard that there are some national health care systems in European countries that work well, such as France, but this isn't a European country. National health care might very well be a good idea in theory, but given the track record of the United States government, would you trust it to run your health care?