re: #11 researchok

Brooklyn, NY has a population twice that of Hawaii. Publicly funded health care works in Hawaii because the population is small.

What works for a population of 1.2 million people cannot be extrapolated to work for 300 plus million.

Canada is a prime example. Their population is roughly 10% that of the US. Nevertheless, their public healthcare is operating in crisis mode. ER waits are long and even procedures, tests and surgery often subjects Canadians to long waits that would be considered unacceptable here.

That said, I’m all for health care reform. I believe it ought to be brought in slowly. For example, universal coverage for those 0-12 (including prenatal) and from age 65 onwards. As it is, that’s where the bulk of health dollars are spent. Let’s see what works and what doesn’t.

And we can start by taking away the monopoly health care insurance companies have and allow people to buy across state lines. Competition is a good thing.

And while we’re picking the low-hanging fruit, there’s those tens of billions of dollars that are wasted annually on Medicare and Medicaid through inefficiencies and fraud that were identified as one of the economic factors that would make the health care bill possible without increasing costs. Health care bill or no, that waste should be actively ferreted out of the system.

One can only be left wondering why action hasn’t already been taken to right these wrongs.