I didn't expect the high level of ignorance in the responses related to national health care. I don't know how you DON'T know that as we speak, most money in the health care economy is coming from government (medicare, medicaid, VA, chip, and last but not least, tax $$ spent on government employee's health care). Several of you took what I said and twisted it as if the $200 billion would have to be spread across the entire nation, replacing the current socialized medicine expenditures,
conveniently forgetting that we RIGHT NOW have national health care under different names. That $200 that was blown/wasted/squandered in Iraq would
only need to go for the uninsured (which does not include most kids because of medicaid and chip).
See, when you include the whole picture, that $200 billion in wasted Federal Reserve notes would have EASILY completed the national health care umbrella that ALREADY EXISTS. What we have now could be likened to a roof that is 75% finished. The portion that is unfinished (the uninsured-mostly adults) is all that the $200 billion wasted in Iraq would need to be aimed at.
The cocky previous responses to my post were written without even realizing that we already have a
vast socialized health care system. Those writers need to take a glance at reality.
The most common nonsense phrase people pull out so they don't have to have a real debate is
"Just look at Canada and the UK." The dirty little secret is that we are actually CLOSER to Canada and the UK at the moment than we are to an actual free medical market. The elements where our medical system is better than the UK and Canada are really only enjoyed by the wealthy.
The previous posters are so hung up on their pro american ego trip that they don't even notice the thousands of americans every year who ditch this medical hell hole. Americans are flocking to several other countries where they can get treatments the corrupt FDA won't allow here, many of these countries at 1/10th the cost, where there are plenty of nurses, and where they can recouperate in near luxury (true, you can't sue sue sue like you can here, but still, not bad if you ask me!) I especially love how people try and trash the quality of health care in other countries when
we have 100,000 being killed every year in america by stupid medical mistakes (many times related to lack of nurses, which isn't a problem in places like Thailand).
The bottom line, is that if we didn't have pure evil in the white house, that wasted $200 billion, combined with the socialized healthcare we ALREADY HAVE, combined with putting those
existing government health plans under ONE ROOF, equals a vast improvement that we have forfeited.
