Is the U.S. rich enough for universal health care?

Rich Americans control American politics. Good ponts here. It would be great if we could find some sort of reasonable conclusion. I fear that it won't happen until most or all of the baby boomers are gone.

According to your logic, we would then have to ban all alcohol, red meat, and cars for that matter! They are all dangerous and cause fatalities, injuries, etc.

If we installed Universal Healthcare our health care sysgtem could not handle the load. We are already in a severe nursing shortage, and the entire system would have an immediate 15% increase in patients to take care of. It takes several decades to produce a doctor and we have been letting foreign born doctors trained in the US to stay because of a decline, relative to the population growth, of Americans training to be doctors.

There would certainly be a "surge" in people going to the doctor because of long term untreated problems. but eventually it would calm down.

Is america rich enough for universal health care ??
surely this is a rhetorical question...
the question should be.. is america too self obsessed,selfish and uncaring to have health care for all the people??

I need to go smoke a cigarette now. Your article posed a lot of interesting questions for me to think about in terms of Universal health care. Well done.

We pay too much and too many taxes and get nothing in return. The US Government cost way to much to operate and is bloated, it goes way over their duties described in the constitution. Universal Health care? Yes, even lowering the income tax and axing other taxes and we could STILL afford it and I think it would be an extra perk for living in America. But for that to work, make health care a not-for-profit. No need in doctors or health-care related business owners being rich. Yes make enough money to be comfortable and have some nice things, but not rich.. not with peoples health.

"According to your logic, we would then have to ban all alcohol, red meat, and cars for that matter! They are all dangerous and cause fatalities, injuries, etc."

Sarah, Actually, only cigarettes cause death when "used as directed". Red wine is healthy. Moderation is healthy. Drive careful and sober with your seat belt on and your sell phone off (until we fix mass transit, but that's another issue). Who has just one cigarette a day?

lol, I'm choosing not to worry about it because it is never going to happen.

Shooting up and smoking pot is banned. So I guess it's what you mean by "rights".

Being overweight IS a big problem, that's for sure, but nobody knows what to do about it. Eating is complicated. You gotta eat. Health care needs to find a solution or cure (come on guys up there - get clever - find a treatment for obesity that works!) I hope.

You CAN do without smoking anything.

In some ways I would like to see universal health care but one of the concerns I have about it is that I am afraid that if there is no monetary incentive for medical research our health care will decline.

How come other countries can do it and America can't? What does that say about us?

We are spiraling madly out of control. Universal health care will never happen here because of the drug companies and the doctors who have to pay school loans and malpractice insurance. Just a dream.

Wellness education is the key. People don't have to be overweight, smoke, or do dangerous things. The problem is that we live in a throwaway society. Of course, this is changing. I predict that more and more people will practice wellness behaviors. Just look at the fitness industry. It is serving a need and growing and growing. Strenuous exercise three times a week is key to a healthy life.

As to universal health care: It could happen but the fear is that we would all be on waiting lists for our care. As it is now, we are on waiting lists for our care. My doctor is all booked up until November. In the end, the control of health care needs to be put in the hands of doctors and patients. There are many factions out there that don't want to see it happen but if we controlled our own health care things would be better.

Hi Peter, I used to have a spades partner that lived in Canada. It always struck me that while health care was free there, in order to see a dr he would have to go to the er, sign in and then come back in several days. Since it was free, everybody went for Every little thing. Im not sure there is hope for health care, but I do know that medication costs are increasing in the U.S. at a sickening rate, and I blame that on Greed.

Devil's advocate here:

You CAN do without drinking alcohol, ever.
You CAN do without eating processed or fast food.
You CAN do without playing golf.
You CAN do without boating.
etc.

People have to wait longer than several days for expensive health care in this country - sometimes months to see certain specialists. Don't take my word for it, try calling a pediatric gastrointerologist, a nephrologist, a urologist, and a neuro surgeon tomorrow to see how soon you can schedule an appointment for a new patient.

Dennis Kucinich explained how we already pay for universal medical care.

"You CAN do without playing golf."

I'm not so sure about that one. I wouldn't want to find out.

Duane: why don't you just come out and say that poor people just can't have health care....Are we rich enough? Come on...It's easy enough to dig up billion for war and God knows how much money to send someone to Mars, but apparently when it comes to health care; we just become cheap and very dumb in social finances. What about the kids in the United States that go to bed hungry? It seems to me that we should look at the many other developed countries that don't have as much wealth as we do but yet they do a much better job then we do in terms of feeding and providing medical care for their citizens. If the cheap ones of our nation really look in the mirror, they'd crack the glass!......As for monetary incentives for medical research, let me leave you with this fine example...I'm ninety-nine percent convinced that Cuba, for one, has found the cure for more then one disease that we're still struggling with. Now how did they manage to do that? (There's an obvious reason they keep it secret) Does the Hippocratic oath have anything to do with it?

Eleanor,

Where, in any American law books (including the federal Constitution), is there a defined or implied right to smoke?

"Is that enough questions?"

No it's not. In your reguritated ramble about the evil drug companies you forgot to ask these question.

Does America have the balls to say "no mas" when it comes to illegals receiving free healthcare?

Would a universal plan still provide healthcare for the illegals who currently cost the system billions now?


"Being overweight IS a big problem, that's for sure, but nobody knows what to do about it. Eating is complicated. You gotta eat. Health care needs to find a solution or cure (come on guys up there - get clever - find a treatment for obesity that works!) I hope."

You have it backwards. it is not the healthcare system's responsibility to make sure every individual makes healthy eating/exercise choices, it's the individual's responsibility. And it's no great secret as to what makes people fat. You eat too much crap and get too little exercise and you're gonna get fat. You want a treatment or cure for obesity Peter? How about you pay me 100k a year to go around to everyone saying "hey fatass put down the f-ing donut and get on the f-ing treadmill." Really your comment was downright moronic.

I'm so sick of hearign about universal care and how uncaring America is. You wanna cut costs? tell the illegals to go F themselves everytime they come into the emergency room and start taking better care of yourself and making healthier lifestyle choices and costs will go down a lot.

If we weren't spending billions every month in Afghanistan and Iraq we could probably afford to do a lot of things...I htink we do know what to do about obesity: eat healthy and exercise, it isn't that complicated.
I don't like the pharmaceutical companies either, we seem to be in an era where a prescription is the answer for everything. And the pharmaceutical companies are now targeting the health of kids--we have a commercial here that shows seemingly healthy kids. The commercial is sponsored by the drug companies. The underlying message is 'Do you want your kids to be healthy? Then give them our pills!' Personally I find there message to be disgusting.

I think so but the Republicans probably don't.

Do people in Canada and other countries with universal health care have people dropping dead all the time because they were asked to wait too long for care?

Not getting something in time is as bad as not getting it at all.

I only brought up being overweight and smoking because won't universal health care make all issues of "health" something more socially important? I doubt we'll ban cigarettes - America was founded on tobacco. But a "universal health care" tax might be added to it. And of course hydrogenated oils should be banned anyway - children even innocently eat that - there is no "choice" or "rights" in being poisoned by unhealthy food that is everywhere (just so corporations can make a bigger margin).

We wouldn't have to ban smoking if we had the universal health care. Look at Britian. They smoke .

Corporate America won't allow universal health care cause then they wouldn't make the $ they do now.

I have spent a little time thinking about this subject, and I think there "could be" a possible avenue that I do not know has been explored (please correct me if I'm wrong). Would it not simply make more sense to subsidize health care education? It seems that it's become more difficult to receive adequate medical education in the United States due to the personal expense of pursuing a medical degree, which the cost is passed to the patients to pay for said educations for years afterward. Or forcing the educated to join conglomerates in the field to pass the expense to, which still ends up costing the patient more in the end anyway. Were it not such a massive expense to become educated in health care, would that not inspire more to seek the education and send the cost of health care down later on?

I'd love to hear more information on this subject, since it very well applies to most everybody giving or receiving medical care in the United States.

Our society would do better to invest more in education all around.

Lots more. That's money well spent!

Being a doctor is one of those fields where you can hope to make some real money in life, so that incentive is there - but the work is hard and you have to be well educated BEFORE med school.

I dont wanna hear another lame excuse like ' corporate america wont let us' or something else around those line.. F*k them, they aint the boss, WE are. If more ppl took THAT attitude then we would actually get things done in this country, instead most just throw up their hands and sigh and bitch and moan...

WE ARE THE BOSS... its simple.

We wouldn't have to ban smoking if we had the universal health care. Look at Britian. They smoke .

Yeah and if people decided not to smoke because every major study ever done has shown that smoking exponentially increases one's risk of getting lung cancer then maybe the rest of us wouldn't have to subsidize the healthcare for those who choose to smoke and then get lung cancer.

How do you like that Missy?

We ARE the boss, but we seem to get talked out of things and talked into things, thanks to the media that feeds us this stuff that is formulated by the corporations, and White House, and two parties. The media doesn't investigate too much anymore, to report, they mostly just read "official" press releases. That forms our opinions in the U.S.

Well again another lame excuse, sure the media can do more and i question their honesty, but we have the internet now, tons of information is available. Dont just watch the news and take everything they say as fact, go investigate for yourself.

With regard to obesity and lung cancer....

I've never heard of the media following anyone around, putting a gun to their head and saying "smoke this whole pack of cigarettes or you supersize that whopper combo meal right now motherf%$#er!"

But it's nice that some of us still blame them for everything.

According to most of the Democratic candidates in the forum last week on PBS, the US can afford universal healthcare because they will tax the upper class and extremely wealthy as they should be taxed. The plan is to use that tax money from them to fund the healthcare.

As for staffing.... Maybe we could then re-open the closed hospitals and provide more and new job opportunities....

True American,

The internet can be a VERY lame place for news. Most internet "News" is bloggers. They don't do investigations. They just comment on other reporters who have done it (for the big newspapers who can still afford some of it, the same big newspapers that bloggers trash) and then bloggers just give their "opinion" on that. Opinion is great - but so much of it is called "news" when it isn't. Opinion is opinion and news is news. Such opinion is only "truth" if you agree with it.

Dismissing my musings as "lame" just seems to make something pat and simple that isn't at all.

Your not lame Peter. =)

Melinda, there is no need to raise taxes, if anything they MUST be lowered, and even then we can still afford Health Care, we just need to make the govt cut spending on all the lame projects it seems to involve itself in. The only thing our govt needs to do is outlined in the constitution, AND I think we need NASA, the FFA, FDA, ect. Lower taxes and make the tax law very simple and clear and we could get rid of the IRS, we could save tons just abolishing the IRS and setting up a simple little treasury agency. Our military does not need as much money as they get now, id rather see most the money go to NASA, that program is important. Again, lower taxes, make it simple, cut waste and we could easily afford health care, plus the govt makes $ off tariffs and stuff..

TJ, no need in labels.. it comes down to common sense.

What scares me about universal health care is accountability.

Government rarely successfully replaces private enterprise. I think medical research would be stymied and bogged down by red tape for years at a time.

I want everyone to have access to TOP RATE health care. Just not sure that what's being proposed as universal heath care is the way to go.

Private enterprise has had free reigns so far and I wonder why it's done so horrible. Nobody is happy with the current system.

Dana (7/1) "With regard to obesity and lung cancer..."

I guess you don't understand how effective ad campaigns can be.

Not all people - regardless of class, wealth, or education - have the ability to withstand Madison Avenue's onslaught - especially when eating the bad for you food is very convenient or peer pressure gets you hooked on an addictive product.

Seems like you have a very black-and-white view of life - too bad.