On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 08:13:26 +0200, "Giusi" >
wrote:

>"Becca" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
>
>> The single payer system is different, so it frightens people.
>>
>> If the US put as much money in health care as we put into the military, we
>> would have a healthier nation.
>>
>> Becca
>
>We were manipulated into fearing it by the medical establishment. They
>thought it would wreck their incomes, but instead the insurance companies,
>once the public were scared to death to do without them, gradually cut into
>their fees anyway. I remember clearly the outcries against socialized
>medicine, the inference that it was yet another Communist inroad. I
>remember also that the argument went on when many were not insured, but a
>simple operation including hospitalization was about $300-500, although
>salaries may have been $5000 p/a. You didn't lose your house, maybe, but
>you went into debt.
>
>This is one area where enterprise screwed the people and made them happy to
>have it done. IMO, enterprise should never have entered such a vital
>service.
>
>I much prefer the system where I am, although it is flawed, of course.
>Baldness prescriptions are covered but breast reductions are not. There's
>always something to which to take exception. In the end, however, medical
>needs will not put me on the street nor ruin my old age. And I do get to
>choose my primary physician and also to seek help from specific specialists.
>And if I want to pay for it, I can go off-system for any care. I now pay in
>a year what I used to pay per month for insurance, co-pays and drugs. If I
>need a drug that isn't on the system, the prices are a fraction of what they
>were in the US.
>
>People who have not experienced anything but the US system haven't a clue,
>and that's partly because what they hear of other systems is very
>controlled.

your last paragraph nails it, guisi. added to the belief that america
is necessarily 'the best' at whatever we do makes change very
difficult.

your pal,
blake