In a town 60 miles from mine, a couple of years ago, the town council condemned the private ambulance service, forced them out of business, and turned the ambulance service over to the fire department, which, at taxpayer expense, bought new ambulances and hired EMT’s or some sort of semi-doctors to take care of the injured or those who wanted an ambulance. It happened in my town a few years ago, and the fire department’s calls quadrupled overnight. What happens of course, is that fire protection is lumped in with public medicine, and fire stations have to be enlarged, multiple ambulances bought and manned 24/7, and everyone’s taxes go up. Now, fire department ambulances go to every accident, fire, or other call, needed or not…at taxpayer expense.
When I lived in Philadelphia, I had a fire radio, and whenever there was a multiple alarm, I’d take my camera to get action photographs of Philadelphia’s wonderful fire department in action. As an aside, Philly’s fire engines are still a deep red, and have real sirens on them, not the VFO’s speaking through loudspeakers, which to a purist like me is is abominable. The fire radio, included the calls for mostly absurd public medicine. Calls, which if the caller were billed for, would never have been made. You wouldn’t believe the trash calls the fire department’s public medicine division responded to, literally thousands of times a year. “I’s gots a headache,” or maybe, “my old man’s drunk again, and he’s hit’n me.” I’ll bet that Philadelphia’s fire protection costs about quadruple what it should cost, because of public medicine. Whatever happened to paying for what medical treatment you need and can pay for? Will the humanitarian boobs who instituted public medicine, I am sure just about everywhere in America, eventually have public dentistry? Of course, because it’s the goal of both Democrat candidates for President to be sure to put in place ’universal health care.’
That, my friend, will be the ultimate disaster. Before Medicaid and Medicare came into being, and before health care was ’free’ to those who couldn’t pay for it, medical care was similar to shopping at a super market. You want that ice cream, bread, or tomatoes? Then you’d better have enough dollars to pay for them. No dollars, no food. You want those auto parts? Well if you can pay for them, you can have them. When things are dispensed for a profit, by whoever sells them, their costs are competitive, as is their quality, and everyone benefits. It doesn’t matter what item you wish to buy, if it is available by purveyors who are out to satisfy and make a profit, all will be just dandy. Why shouldn’t health care be the same? I must not be a ’humanitarian,’ because I am outraged at the costs for those of us who still pay for it, and am disgusted at the free ER for illegals and every other piece of human trash that wanders into a hospital.
Look at public schools, public housing, and public rest rooms. Look even at public defenders, if you wish to see the absolute bottom of attorneys. You’d do far better defending yourself. Public anything is abominable, with the exception of perhaps fire fighting and highways, which would be impossible to sell individually to consumers. Schools? Of course. You want your kids to be educated and are too lazy or stupid to do it yourself? Then send them to a private, for profit school, and you will have your choice of different ones. That is, if all public schools were sold to private operators, and real estate taxes were reduced by 75%, which is what would happen. Just imagine the variety sizes, quality, prices, and subject matter, if all schools were private, and there was no such thing as a public school. Before there were public schools, Americans were far more literate and better educated, and that is absolutely true. Today, public schools turn out functional illiterates, criminals, and graduates who are so dumb that they can barely hold a job at McDonalds. Ever watch Jay Leno’s “All Star” segments where college students and graduates know nothing?
With no public medicine, some would not, or could not pay, and get none. They might die. So what? Some decent people might not have any money to pay, and charities might step in, or relatives, or friends. If there were no free medical care, maybe the illegals would go home, and maybe a lot of the trash population we are being deluged with, might die, and we’d be rid of them. Look at nations which have nationalized health care, which is supposed to be ’free.’ Nothing’s free! Having medical care ’free,’ only means that the taxpayers are subsidizing the poor and lazy, which is not the way to paradise. In England, it has gotten so bad, that their parliament passed a law which says that no one can wait in a hospital for more than four hours for medical treatment. So, thousands wait in ambulances for hours and sometimes even die, and then go into the hospital to wait some more, so they won’t violate the four hour law. Ambulance waits are not counted in the four hour law. Medical treatment in nationalized medicine nations is abysmal, because all the good doctors have come to America where they can make a lot of money. I wonder where they’ll go when the Democrats have their way.
When someone doesn’t pay for what they receive, two things are always present. (1) The dispenser is of poor quality, education, or ability, and of course is underpaid. (2) The recipient of something ’free,’ will always over-use it, since it seems to cost nothing. Why do you think thousands of doctors refuse to take Medicare and Medicaid patients? Because the pay received from government is so low, that they can’t make a decent living by the time they pay the office staff to do the complex paperwork, plus they are underpaid for the treatments they administer. Is it any wonder that hospitals are going bankrupt because they are forced to treat people free? 99% of the non-thinking public think that nationalized health care will be an absolute boon to everyone. It won’t. It will be an unmitigated disaster, just like public ambulances, schools, housing, and rest rooms are. Why is it so righteous and humanitarian to subsidize the weak, poor, illegal, and criminal? Whatever you subsidize, you get more of, and whatever you tax, you get less of, which happens to be a truism. Who gives a hoot if the illegals leave and the worthless and lazy can’t get free medical care? The charities operated by volunteers and churches for hundreds of years have cared for the less fortunate, and would again.
Nationalized health care simply means that we will all suffer from poor treatment, long, long waits, and we will be treated by the inept. I remember before 1965. I remember growing up in my Dad’s drug store in Washington D.C., and knowing all the doctors who wrote prescriptions, and the ones we went to. The docs had excellent incomes, and my Dad did OK too. It usually cost about three dollars for a doctor’s office visit. It was obvious that some of the docs were inferior and inept, and they suffered from it by losing patients and even being sued. It was the market at work in medicine. Doctors Dewey and Campbell were superb, and we even socialized with them and their families. The market process made medical care competitive, excellent, reasonable in cost, and free from government meddling. The exact opposite will be the case when the Democrats have their way, undoubtedly joined by Republicans. Since Medicare and Medicaid, everything has gone haywire in the field of medicine. Prices charged by doctors are outrageous, to make up for the huge expenses and mal-practice cases brought on by public medicine. Now, the Democrats will make the whole thing a hundred times worse. Funny, but when I find that something doesn’t work, I don’t want more of it. But of course, I am not government, and I am logical and can think.
Attention all you sheeple out there. When you finish touting McCain, Clinton, or Obama, sell your stocks and buy gold and silver. A year from now, you’ll be awfully glad you did.