I don't buy the we need more hospitals arguements at all. People are getting a lot of care today. They go to emergency rooms at no cost to them, free clinics, free drugs for the poor programs etc It is a very inefficient, expensive way to provide medical care but we do it. Now I do believe many die in the US due to lack of care and access to medical care but that is for long term chronic health problems not routine visits and hospital care.

In our present model many people wait until they are very very sick to go to the hospital. This is crazy expensive. If we ge them all covered I agree we will need more dentists, family doctors, and nurses to be sure but if we keep them healthy we may need fewer hospitals and emergeny rooms.

If we focus on early care and reduce lawsuits so unnecessary care is not being provided and we focus on preventive care with reform then fewer may go to hospitals and clinics and we may be overbuilt. That is a distinct possibility.

The whole point of healthcare reform is to get everyone covered. We can do that without stimulus money in all of the plans in congress. One way it is paid for is by forcing all in the US contribute and carry insurance while many today do not. In canada you all pay taxes to support the health care program. In the US many young and healthy people choose not to contribute but want free care if they do get sick. that is a huge difference in the systems. Drug prices will fall since the companies do not need to provide free drugs to the uninsured any more and hospitals can charge less as they won't be providing so much "free" care anymore. The money is there to pay for coverage for all without a stimulus effort. If we pay less for healthcare that is a great way to stimulate the economy. Not paying more into the current system

I guess I just see this country as flat broke and the days of free programs are pretty much over. We can't give tax cuts without cutting programs anymore, we can't do any more stimulus projects without cutting programs elsewhere anymore. We can't go to war without a tax increase to pay for it anymore.

The US is about done if we don't start getting our spending under control. Healthcare reform may cost some of us more and it will reduce costs for others but overall we will be better off as a country and it will not require a huge increase in taxes or a stimulus program to support or it won't work in the first place.

Last edited by drizzit; 10/25/09 07:01 PM.
No families take so little medicine as those of doctors, except those of apothecaries.

Oliver Wendell Holmes