I'm Gonna Miss the Land of Opportunity

[mizukaze]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8348941.stm

Edit to add: Decline is a choice, but is it America's choice?
Part 2 of editorial above

Well, Dr. Krauthammer, clearly the will of the people has been accomplished, and their will is indeed to choose decline.

Comments

[mizukaze]

it's not functionality that I'm really concerned about. it's the cost to the taxpayer, and the drain on the economy, not to mention the incredible detriment it provides to innovation in treatments, whether techniques or technologies.

it really comes down to how irrelevant we want to become on the world stage. if you are an isolationist, who wants to hand the reins of world influence over to China, Russia, et al, who have absolutely no qualms about being given much wider influence over international relations, sans any concerns for human rights, freedom, etc, then yes, this is worth celebrating.

otherwise it's a bad plan, plain and simple, and i don't think anyone understands the actual mechanism involved in the Pelosicare bill. it neither sets up an NHS a la most of Europe, nor does it give any incentive for healthcare providers to expand their workforce and absorb the large numbers of people who will inevitably use the "public option" to go to the doctor every time they have the slightest hint of sniffles or a cough, thus crowding the schedules of doctors and further reducing the supply of care available to everyone.

there's already a shortage of doctors in the country, let alone nurses, particularly in regions with high costs for malpractice insurance because of overzealous trial lawyers, and with no incentive or payback for the exorbitant costs of medical/nursing school, there will be an increasingly smaller number of people willing to go through the trouble of receiving medical training and qualification, thus exacerbating the problem.

have you considered any of that? or are you just going "yay, we're insuring everybody?"

because it's not that simple a "problem."