Government Funded Health Care?
344620
Probably would since the governments job is to poorly manage any program they have there tentacles in.  How would the people paying the taxes on this program feel when they see a hospital technologist making more than a police officer, or a teacher.  It is an ugly issue, especially with GWB in office.  But I will agree, a change is needed, and soon!
521594
It is mostly tax to fund the government
854901
I think that the answer is socialized healthcare.  Too much money is wasted in the current American healthcare system.  Not only do we pay about twice as much as other western countries, but the quality of care is also inferior.
961124
I would support it , if it could be proved to work.  We are supposed to be the greatest country, then we should make it work.\n\nI am sick of hearing about it making our taxes go up.  of course it will.  but are you forgetting that you will no longer have health insurance premiums.  If our taxes go up much less than what the cost of our insurance was, then it is a good thing.  \n\nI also have no problem with government health insurance if run right.  We all know that group insurance is the best.  Why not make one giant group with everyone in America eligible?  make it affordable.  I live in a state where 1 in 4 doesn't have health insurance.  If it were more affordable, that would make a difference.  My current coverage is with a very small group  and it cost me 10 to 12 thousand a year to cover my family.  I can't afford that.  most Americans can't afford that.
363120
yes i think it would be a great idea for the goverment to provide us all with health coverage, it would set in place a standard rate of cost for proceedures of all kinds and employ more doctors and more staff at offices and hospitals, medical standards would be set and therefore medical mal-practice would be more governed by the actual courts and dis-allow for frivolous lawsuits. it would also thereby de-organize the pharmacuetical compnanies and how they practice. medicines would be more available at cheaper rates due to more people using the drugs provided by pharmacies.so "yes"
686433
make health insurance a government-subsidized program, with employers FORCED to provide full medical benefits for people working 30 or more hours a week for them.
712468
Government doctors would be allocated to some villages.   \nThe government is allocating $100 million for health education.\nAs project leader, he will have to allocate jobs to people.
690409
I dont know. I really dont know. How would you find out? Government statistics? Not a good vote-getter! Even if you go back to previous governments , its still pretty hard to judge how scrupulous they were.They , of course , 'justify' the expense - 'defending freedom' , a 'cost-effective' health service,an aging population affecting pensions ( gosh , an aging population , that must have come as a surprise!). Bit of a rant here , but I feel that you understand!
941323
I am one of 45 million people without access to affordable health care. It affects my life every day as I am a diabetic and I do not take all the prescribed medicines that I am suppose to. It will probably shorten my life but it is the best I can do. I do not think it is a big issue for the general public, they are not effected by it one way or the other. But for those of of us that need to be able to see a Dr. regularly, It is a dangerous situation. I think that the real answer is to do away with the private insurance company's and offer national health care so that everyone has access to it if they need it. I understand that this would not be free health care as it has to be paid for by taxes, however I would rather see my money going for people like me then to send 10 billion a month to a war in Iraq that should have never been.
468854
Yes because your premise is invalid.\n\nMany people use no health services and some use more than your example. In a population of that size the ones who use less subsidize the ones who use more, just like insurance companies.\n\nBob Higgins\nWorldwide Sawdust
451476
Australia has government funded healthcare called "Medicare".  You have to go to specific gov't hosptials or doctors to get treatment or your bills won't be covered (like a massive government HMO).  Private healtcare exists and is very reasonable with small deductables and huge coverage.  I pay $125 a month for myself, (young adult), and get full coverage on everything, plus emergency and dental.  Drugs I pay up to AU$30, then they pay for the rest.  I have no deductable for doctor/dental visits, as everything I've been to has been reimbursed.\n\nMost people here still would prefer to belong to private healthcare over public healthcare, as the waits are shorter and the benefits better.
88399
nope, not a long as they can hold down the poor with outrageous prices. That and its one way of comiting legal genocide. See if you get sick in this country and you can't afford the OUTRAGEOUS health insurance premiums chances are you make too much to get public assistance. By the time you do qualify? The cancer or what ever it is thats killing you will be too far advanced to do anything about.I have asthma. I can't even buy health insurance, life insurance or any other kind of insurance..and as you may have guessed ...I can't afford the medicines I need either. I am but one of millions with this problem.. Until we do something about our current government structure.. NOTHING will change. The rich will become richer the poverty stricken will starve and the middle class?.. well they slipped below the poverty line years ago. They just set things up so that you make one or two dollars too much to qualify for assistance yet can't afford health insurnace. MEAN time? they pump billions of dolars into forein counties that hate us..bolstering their programs while Americans do without!
372468
Tax Payers money, but better then spending it on Iraq. Sorry I misread your question. It was founded during the Johnson adminastration as part of the war on poverty. Some things worked and some things didn't I personally think that we have outgrown medicaid and need to go to a national health system.
740442
The high cost of health care today is actually due to government regulations and the number of lawsuits that receive exorbitant settlements. These costs are then passed to the patients, which then makes them need either insurance or government assistance to pay for health care. \nIf both the federal and state governments would reduce regulations, red tape, and such then the cost of health care could also drop. But, people also need to understand that doctors and nurses, no matter how well trained or experienced, are human and do make mistakes. And there is also so much that we just really don't understand about the human body.
410215
It is not the governments job to take care of people! This country was built on the rugged individual and not the nanny state. I would never want the government to think it knows what is best for me. There is nothing stopping people from seeing a doctor and making payments. \nMy father had no insurance for years with us 7 kids and that's how they made it work. We have it so much better in this country than anywhere else in the world. When you grow up you will realize this.
1009343
good question.  the answer is quite simple....  the government doesn't see free education (k-college) and free health care as a priority for all of its citizens....\n\nmany first world countries have this!!!\n\nby privatizing health care.....  companies makes zillions of dollars in by charging outrages prices for health care and prescription drugs....  it's the good and bad of a free market.  \n\nit's a shame that a country so rich couldn't provide basic health care to all of her citizens!!!!!
879592
Wow! I'm amazed by the bias and misunderstanding evidenced in the answers so far. . . I have lived in a country with "socialized medicine" (Denmark) so I know something about it.  To answer the question, I believe that the U.S. may now be the only western country without a national socialized health-care system.  \n\nAs some mentioned here, in socialized medicine, taxes or other federal and state revenues would pay for our individual medical costs.  But to assume that this would automatically be a big hardship for the taxpayer shows a misunderstanding of the way such a system works and the options in the set-up that we would need to consider.  \n\nThere are many ways to pay for socialized health care, and they don't always involve raised taxes.  For one example, consider this: right now, our tax dollars are wasted to an enormous degree on the pet projects of various legislators - projects that most of us do not know about and wouldn't care to be paying for!  I would like to see some of this "pork-barrel" spending done away with (and I believe that we are moving in that direction as people educate themselves about it and demand change) - that would go a long way toward funding things like a national health-care system.  Other forms of government waste exist also, where funds would be better spent on insuring all our citizens.\n\nThe biggest thing that would worry me personally about such a system, and that may be much of the reason why we don't yet have it in the U.S., is that its establishment would necessarily require some level of federal-level regulation.  Americans (myself included) have a traditional distaste for too much government control on the federal level.  \n\nBut in this case, federal regulation and the meddling that would come with it,  may be a necessary evil that we need to consider - because the alternative is to keep going along the path we are on, in which with every year we see fewer employers able to insure employees, the costs of individually-purchased policies grow more outlandish, and the numbers of uninsured citizens increase by thousands.\n\nI think that it is telling that we are the last free-world, western, civilized nation to NOT be insuring ALL its citizens.  In America, we believe that citizens have a birth right to some things - like education and social security.  I believe we need to start believing as a nation that everyone has a right to be treated when they are ill without it bankrupting them.  It's really a right to LIVE.  It seems elementary that we would want to keep all our citizens healthy, not just the wealthy and lucky.  Something is going to have to give, and soon. \n\nMac at ASKEW\nhttp://askew.blogharbor.com