posted September 16, 2004 12:21 PM              

(personal opinion here - no politics) Your body, your health, your responsibility. If people started taking care of themselves (eating right, exercising, lowering stress levels, etc.) and maintained a preventative medical plan MOST major diseases could be avoided (not all, most!). Why should my tax dollars go to pay for cancer treatment for someone who smoked two packs a day for 30 years? Why should my tax dollars go to pay for dialysis for someone who drank a 1/5th of whiskey every day since they were 18? Why should I bust my rear everyday just so the government can take my money to give to some one who hasn't worked a day in their life? The issue for me is not whether people deserve medical treatment, it's whether or not we allow our government control over every aspect of our personal lives (which is called communism.)

posted September 17, 2004 11:37 AM              

Hmm... I don't have a slanted view toward the right... Anymore than JW has a slanted view of the left.

It's interesting how quick people here will jump on board to smear the left and defend the right.

There are very few people left over in here to defend the left becaue of JWs constant biased attacks from the right.

I never see anyone wag their finger at him for his slanted view of the left.

It's closed minded, one sided, and frankly, quite disgusting to me.

If you're going to single me out on some BS like this... you'd better be prepared for me to start throwing up in your face all the times you *could have* done the same to the those from the right.

posted September 17, 2004 01:46 PM            

Nevertheless, I completely understand when those on the left are angry because their long held feelings about issues are demolished by factual information.

Edit*
Recogzining that I lack the proper language skills to talk to liberals, I'm going to purchase Ann Coulters book, "How to Talk to a Liberal". Perhaps that will foster more understanding.

I posted that article to show what happened in Canada with socialized medicine. Many Canadians have to come to America to get prompt and competent treatment.

Some are not aware but Britain has refused to treat some people for certain diseases when they reach a certain age. They also take into account a person's lifestyle to determine if a course of treatment or treatment at all should be given.

The fact citizens from nations which have such systems come here for treatment speaks for itself.

I'm not interested in socialized, government run health care for America. Nor would I ever support anyone politically who proposes or advances a system that is or would become, over time a socialized health care system.

If the government got completely out of health care, prices for health services would plummet like a rock. The people and institutions who would scream the loudest are physicians, hospitals and insurance companies and those are the biggest promoters of government involvement in healthcare. Uncle Sam has the deepest pockets of all and the sky's the limit when pricing services.

Listen carefully now. I remember when an office visit to a physician cost $4 and that included prescription medication like Penicillin or another antibiotic.

I was in the insurance business and a top of the line hospitalization policy paid $18 dollars a day for the room and covered all non elective procedures. That policy paid more than most hospitals were charging, so it covered virtually 100% for a stay in the hospital and any necessary surgery. That policy cost a family about $10 per month.

posted September 18, 2004 09:24 AM              

What I can't wait to see is what is going to happen when the American public decides that they are going to forgo expensive radical medical treatment and accept what fate has handed them. (DNR's to the extreme.) When people stop using medical services, when the demand decreases, at first the prices will explode to make up for the lack of business, but they will eventually drop again.

Just a thought.

posted September 18, 2004 10:24 AM              

As most of you know I work in an inner-city Middle School Cafeteria. In the school that I work at over 50% of the over 900 students receive a free lunch everyday. For the most part, these children do not receive vegetables on there tray. They eat pasta, pizza, cheeseburgers, or chicken patties in a bun with a side of fried potatoes of some kind, everyday of the week. These same children who cannot afford the $2.00 lunch fee (not all of them I mind you, just a large percent)will perchase $1-$3 of junk food. Chips, soda, snack cakes, and even ice cream bars.

I know that it sounds simple to say that all of this should be taken out of the schools. The truth is that the schools get money from the companies (such as Coke and Pepsi) to have their products in the schools. This money is used to fund sport programs or after school programs.

I degress, what I wanted to say is that the health care situation in this country is BAD and we are teaching our children to be "junk food junkies" in our schools. There are kids in the 7th grade where I work that weigh over 230lbs and have type 2 diabetes.

And it is I, the lunchlady that serves heart diesese, diabetes, and obeseity everyday on a tray. I also pay the taxes that pay for the medical care for these children that I helped put there. It is a vicious cycle that
I believe needs to be addressed before we lose a generation.

(that's my two cents worth)