judd@wadsworth.org wrote:
What many of us who are against socialized medicine are against is a nanny state, as it has been proven over and over again that a nanny state isn't a cure all for problems. All it does is raise taxes, and create a monopoly that has no incentive to do things efficiently. I've worked at a government run healthcare facility, albeit in the maintenance department, and I was in culture shock after working in the private sector all my life. I couldn't believe the inefficiency that was accepted as the norm and thus just winked at when it caused major problems. When an employee can sit in the library and read during the majority of their work day, and critical maintenance that they are personally responsible for such as cleaning out drip pans under refrigeration coils in the meat coolers for the kitchen that supplies the meals for all patients is neglected so long that pans with sides more than an inch tall were dripping water over the sides of the pan because of the mass of mold, slime and bacteria filling them, and the maintenance records report that the work was done faithfully every month for the past 5 years, while the supervisors laugh about it, then the existing government run health system is thoroughly broken. You actually have to see the inside workings of the government bureaucracy from the perspective of someone who has worked in the private sector all their lives to realize just how badly broken the current government system is. To say the entire health care system ought to be a government sponsored monopoly is a truly frightening idea to me.On 7 Mar, Andrei Popescu wrote:judd@wadsworth.org wrote:More to the point, equating following the majority in an enterprise that works for them (government health care) with jumping off a bridge is rather foolish.Maybe it works someplace else, but in Romania I would rather stay home and try alternative/traditional medicine then risk going to a hospital. I could tell you a few horror stories ... Or if you like a good movie with subtitles: http://imdb.com/title/tt0456149/ Regards, AndreiI don't doubt that. No system is perfect. I've heard horror stories from the US also. No doubt Canadians, Britons, etc. have them also. Romania's system may very well suck. My problem is people who make statements like "Our system is the best because government is always inefficient", or "We have the best system in the world", without actually looking at any data, or at best relying on anecdotal evidence. -Chris ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Christopher Judd, Ph. D. judd@wadsworth.org | ------------------------------------------------------------------------