>I have recently become favorable to "universal health care" as a result of
>the news of the past year or two.
Sorry if the following reply seems a bit political for this list but
you really punched my button.
>By universal health care I mean:
> 1. Everyone in a nation has a standing right to emergency care.
Everyone already does.
> 2. Everyone should have access to a doctor and should have a
>medical data file that is locally maintained and secured.
Local maintenance and security would likely be lost if state or federal
taxes were involved.
> 3. The emphasis of medicine should be on prevention and
>elimination of contagious diseases (such as TB, AIDS, Malaria etc.) and
>diseases caused by pollution (such as some cancers). Vaccinations should
>be mandatory.
Mandatory? You're likely to trample on some religious beliefs with
that.
> 4. The health care should be funded by taxes and
>employee/employer insurance premiums.
Didn't we just go through this a couple of years ago? Thankfully the
government was kept out of the health care business. Remember that as soon
as you involve taxes the government can regulate every aspect of health
care. Thus do you grow government even larger and increase its control
over yet another area of our lives.
The insurance companies are no help either since they are third party
payers that have no personal interest in either your health or your
doctor's opinions.
The solution is to get government out of the business and reduce
insurance to strictly catastrophic coverage. Regular medical expenses
should be paid by individuals out of tax exempt savings. You might
consider making medical expenses tax deductible but then you get the
government involved again.
>The benefit to everyone is continued freedom of movement in a
>pollution-free and disease-free environment.
If that were true then Europe would be pollution-free and disease-free.
That's hardly the case.
Mike Jaqua
7245 Balfour Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49002
(616) 327-6570
pmjaqua@pwinet.upj.com
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ALAN KEYES FOR PRESIDENT !!!!!!
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