From: mascdb@gdr.bath.ac.uk (C D Burdorf)
Newsgroups: alt.california
Subject: Re: Paradise lost and Medi-Cal...
Date: 20 Aug 92 09:15:14 GMT
Organization: School of Mathematics, University of Bath, UK

In article <1992Aug19.190517.29308@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> andrewg@ece.cmu.edu (Andrew R. Ghali) writes:
>
>In article <1992Aug19.155004.245@gdr.bath.ac.uk>, mascdb@gdr.bath.ac.uk (C D Burdorf) writes:
>...
>|> That's the UK (FREE) doctor did far better for me than the US (EXSPENSIVE)
>                 ^^^^^^                                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>|> specialist.
>
>
>And you wonder why things are so screwed up.  "Damn it, I'm entitled to
>FREE socialized ________!" (fill in the blank)  Why do you think medi-cal
>is so screwed? how about billions of dollars being pissed away to subsidize
>people who can't or won't take responsibility for their lives.  "Well, damnit,
>those rich bourgeois middle-class fat cats can afford to subsidize everyone.
>Hell, they'd probably end up wasting the money on themselves anyway.  The
>greedy pigs!" is the attitude that will drag this country to third rate
>economic backwash.  The scariest part of the November elections is National
>Health Care- not Bush or Clinton, they can only do minor damage in 4 years.
>Something like NHC would be a long term screw up of such phenomonal propor-
>tions that it boggles the mind.  I grew up in Hawaii; you know, the state with
>the frequently cited model health care system.  Yeah, if it's so damn good and
>efficient, why are the tax rates in Hawaii unrivaled anywhere else (with the
>possible exception of NYC)?  Not to mention the revenue the state plunders off
>of tourists - the poor saps get zapped in wallet every time they turn around.
>I know of doctors that have quit their practices because between taxes and
>malpractice insurance (now that's a whole 'nother can o' worms) they were
>making less than hourly state employees.

Get a clue man!  The amount of money spent on Health care in the
US far exceeds that of any country with socialized medicine.  The
reason for that is there is no profit motive in medicine in 
countries with socialized medicine.  Thus, you don't have the
problems of doctors overcharging to pad their wallets and you
don't have the problem of them operating on people when it
isn't necessary (which happened to my sister in California).  

You pay for medical care one way or the other.  In a socialized
system you pay through taxes.  In a private system you pay through
your salary.  You pay one way or the other.  The advantage of a
socialized system is THERE IS NO PROFIT MOTIVE IN MEDICINE, SO 
YOU DON'T HAVE GREEDY CORRUPT PEOPLE PERFORMING OPERATIONS TO
MAKE BUCKS. AS A RESULT, YOU DON'T HAVE NEARLY THE SAME AMOUNT
OF MALPRACTICE PROBLEMS.  If you look at it rationally instead
of ideologically, you pay less for medical care in a socialized
system than you do in a private system in the following ways:

1. Less Cost
2. Less Malpractice
3. Less worry about greedy doctors doing unnessary operations.



>
>After the RIGHT to free health care, I fully extpect the next right to be
>_discovered_ is the RIGHT to television.  First the poor will get TV assistance,
>then there will be nationalized free TV distribution, cable services will be
>paid for by the government, then who knows, subsized VCR's?
>


It's attitudes like yours which show a total lack of social consciousness
and a total glut of self-centeredness which is screwing up California and 
were partly responsible for the LA Riots.

>
>No, I'm not really a mean person, I just hate whining.

>Andrew

Yeah well, you did a lot of whining yourself.  I guess its ok
for you to whine, but not for someone who you don't agree with.