Why Socialized Medicine (publicly funded health care) Will Kill America

2008-08-23 21:54:10 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Health & Fitness, Top Stories)

Fort Worth, TX (WiredPRnews.com)—With all of the caterwauling about the supposed lack of health care millions of Americans, it is important that people understand what a government-run medical system would look like. Canada, France and Great Britain are just a few of the nations that have government-run health care and, by all accounts, it is a horrific failure.

While it is true that everyone can get health care (just as they can in the US), the kind of health care they get and the timeliness in which they get it is far below that of the United States. A perfect example of this happened in 2007 when a Canadian government official went to the US to have surgery for breast cancer.

According to a Sept. 14, 2007 CTV.ca report, Belinda Stronach, a member of the Canadian parliament and a strong supporter of Canada’s socialized health care system, went to California for the operation on the advice of her Toronto physician. Another example shows what happens when the government makes health care decisions. In Great Britain, the National Health Service (NHS) refused to treat a man’s broken ankle unless he quit smoking. A Sept. 14, 2007 article from The Daily Mail website describes how John Nuttal, 57, is in constant pain without his morphine because the NHS refuses to perform surgery on a broken ankle—that did not heal properly in a cast—unless he quits smoking. The former construction worker may have to have his foot amputated because the government-run health system claims that the surgery may not be successful because of Nuttal’s smoking habit.

This is where the pie-in-the-sky utopia skids and crashes into the embankment of reality. The government-run health care system that so many democrats advocate will result in massive government control of individual lives. Once the government has control over who gets what kind of health care and when, then the state becomes all-powerful – just like the Stalinist dictatorships of the 20th century.

Smokers, the obese and those with pre-existing conditions could be denied treatment based on the whims of bureaucrats who claim to want to save taxpayer money. This is why individual freedom and the free-market system are still far superior to any socialized medical bureaucracy.

Contributor: Jason Meeks Staff Writer - WiredPRNews.com Online Health News Distribution Service