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Why is it that no one trusts government? Does your monthly Medicare or Medicaid check not arrive on time? Does your Medicare policy not cover necessary drugs? It likely does a great deal better than the private sector ... and studies from Canada suggest that the fear of waiting lines in single-payer systems is a myth.

Michael Neil, Denver

READER COMMENTS

Michael. You might try talking to a Canadian who has had to deal with their health care system. You'll get the truth then.

gee michael lets talk about government programs. just here in Colorado every time the elected officals want a tax increase is to fund uninsured children. with all of the tax increases we have already had there should be a surplus of money already.
How about social security? find job there and even better is that all politicians know they dont want on it and so they created their own retirement that we fund and can not enjoy.
what about the war on drugs? if we stopped that look at the money we would have free to spend else where
then lets not forget the war on poverty from the 60's.
lets make it really easy to see how the government works, go get a drivers license. they might be able to use that model for health care as it works so well.

Canada spends $2,931 per capita on health care, including both public and private funds. The figure for the United States is $5,274.

That is a staggering difference, an almost unbelievable difference. And one routinely ignored by those who oppose universal health care. You can easily see why that is. Any sensible person who is not driven by bias would say, My God, that is truly amazing; maybe we can learn from that.

One result is that Canada has 209 physicians per 100,000 people, whereas the United States has 549.

What if Canada matched the United States by increasing its expenditures per capita by $2,357 and increasing the number of physicians per 100,000 by 304, a increase of over 250%? How good would it then be? Right now, the World Health Organization rates the Canadian system as the 30th best and the United States system as the 38th best. How would that change?

The statistics come from the Human Development Index. Since the opponents of universal health care have no good answer for the clear message, they will attack the messenger.

God forbid we have the same health care that is available to the President and Vice President.
I love it how our elected federal officials rail against "socialized health care" but do hesitate to use it. Government funded health care has been keeping Dick Cheney alive for all these years, which is no easy task and is an excellent indicator of the type of health care the government is capable of delivering.

If we all could have exactly the same health care coverage the President, Vice President and all the politicians have then it might be something to be considered. That would be a cold day in H- - -. We commoners are not near as important as the almighty ploiticians.

Doesn't anyone in the State of Colorado understand why government programs don't work?
Only 10% of the money, NO MATTER WHAT PROGRAM, is actually used for that purpose.
Roads, childcare, mail, jails, rails...it doesn't matter. Everything else is gobbled up by the bureaucracy. It is working bribes for the Democrat faithful and it will always be that way. There are liberal clowns all over DC passing worthless paper to each other, collecting big buck on programs left over from the Johnson Administration.
Nothing is more permanant that a temporary government program!
I suggest all of you liberal healthcare whiners
go find a job from some evil corporation that has health care as a benefit and shut up!!!

There you go, please follow Michael's advice and shut up. All you need is a corporate job and all your needs will be taken care of. Just don't try to start up your own business, switch jobs, get sick before your benefits kick in, work for a small business or work at your dream job that does not involve working for a corporation. Oh and if your kids are on your plan, make sure they don't turn 18 and become ineligible. Oh and try not to get laid off, and no matter how much you might hate your job, stick with it for the benefits.

WHO WHO WHO.. Sounds like a freakin owl. WHO WHO

Let's take a more detailed look at the WHO numbers...

US rankings based on:
Health Level (DALE) 24th
Health Level distribution 32nd
Performance Responsiveness 1st
Performance distribution 3-38th
Fairness in $$ 54-55th
Overall goal attainment 15
Health Expenditures per capita st1
Performance on level of health 72nd
Overall health system performance 37th

These numbers are out of 191 WHO members. But what else does this WHO report state?

"WHO’s assessment system was based on five indicators: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system’s financial burden within the population (who pays the costs).

Responsiveness: The nations with the most responsive health systems are the United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden. The reason these are all advanced industrial nations is that a number of the elements of responsiveness depend strongly on the availability of resources. In addition, many of these countries were the first to begin addressing the responsiveness of their health systems to people’s needs."

Decide for yourselves. Here is the link:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/who_world_health_ranks.html

There are Democrats posting on this letter supporting government "controled health care".Just a few hours ago they were posting on other letters saying how bad the government screwed up the war in Iraq.How can this be? I will explain.The the US hating wing of the Democrat party wants the terrorists to win the war .That is why they are trying to give aid and comfort to the enemy.On the other hand the liberal Democrats support the same government taking over health care.That is because they know the government is doing a good job in Iraq but cannot admit it because that will hurt their friends the terrorists.This is the only way to explain their inconsistancy on these two issues.These are good examples of US hating Democrats.

Universal health care is feasible, as long as it is a Democratic led government that is organizing it.The list of Republican failures and pure incompetence is long and tragic. But what can you expect from a party whose mantra is "government cannot do anything right". The government can do things right, just not a Republican led government.

Sean says he trusts the Democrats with health care but not the Republicans.The Republicans will be in office probably 50% of the time so why does he want them controling his health care? It is because he knows they are doing a good job in Iraq but he wants the terrorists to win.That is why he gives them aid and comfort.Their is no other explaination for his apparent mental illness on these issues.

"Why is it that no one trusts government?"

I stopped reading this letter right there.

Maybe An American needs to read a newspaper or a magazine. In case you have not heard, the Republicans have done a terrible job of governing and they are done for awhile. After the debacle of the last six years, heck today Rove quit, the Republicans will be lucky to have a 40 percent majority for the next generation. The Republicans are divided and weak.

"...the Republicans will be lucky to have a 40 percent majority for the next generation. "

A 40% majority?

Don't stop him now, he's on a roll.....

Rolling right over your weak arguments. Don't worry, it is not your fault, the Republican Party is not giving its supporters a whole heck of a lot to be proud of.

Sean must not study history.In 1994 everybody thought that the Democrats were down and out when they lost the House and Senate but here we are now.Could Sean be this stupid.I do not like to use the "S" word but I think it may fit Sean.On the other hand Sean is a Democrat and they lie with the greatest on ease.We could say Sean is mad about not having health care.His posting seem to show this.This would fit in the US hating wing of the party because he was supporting the terrorists on another posting.He would be in a new wing of the Democrat party.The stupid,US hating wing of the Democrat party.

Another fact that points to Sean being stupid is that he states " An American needs to read a newspaper or a magizine." Everyone knows that most magizines and newspapers do nothing but support Democrats.Sean may be very young and have not learned this lesson.I will try to teach him.It is a dirty job but someone has to do it.As you notice there are not many coward,US hating Democrats helping him on this issue.I think most of them are too smart to fall into this trap.I should say my trap.

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