re: #133 baier

I had my first child in an MTF (military treatment facility, which is what they used to call the base hospitals). I used those pediatricians for the first 9 months of her life. It is very much like receiving health care from the DMV, on a bad day for the DMV.

My second child was born at a public county (but civilian) hospital that took the military insurance. It was a day and night difference in the quality of the facility, the cleanliness, the courtesy and competence of the staff, etc, etc, etc…not to mention the attitudes of the doctors and nurses. The buildings were about the same age, but the civilian one had been maintained and cleaned to American civilian hospital standards over the years. And the difference between civilian and military pediatric clinics is beyond anything I can express in typing.

I don’t oppose a public option per se, but people NEED to understand that it will be a bare-bones, safety-net type coverage, and that they will most definitely want private medical insurance and access on top of it. If they CHOOSE to only join the public option plan, their choices and access will be limited. There simply is no way to cover such a huge population without such limits.

But we Americans tend to believe in unicorns and other fairy tales way too often.