Originally Posted By: Jaybird
I recently read or heard something to the fact that the true amount by which Social Security and Medicare is underfunded is 106 TRILLION dollars. Social Security is a great idea in theory. However, when the pols raid the funds intended for it and leave a bunch of I.O.U.s then borrow funds from China and Japan to cover the outlays, that is not sustainable. When we wage illegal wars partially or in full for the benefit of other nations at an enormous cost to human life and our nation's fiscal well-being, that is not sustainable. What are we going to do? Devalue our currency? Default on the debt? Give China the State of Alaska? The State of California? This is why I can't foresee (from the fiscal argument) the U.S. Government administering a national health program. Then there's the other concern(s) associated with the U.S. Government playing insurer, many of which have been touched on in previous posts.


I see this argument a lot, that Social Security is underfunded, and therefore it makes no sense to take on additional cost

I agree that the war in Iraq was a total disaster, and perhaps the 30,000 troops that were scheduled tonight for deployment to Afghanistan will prove likewise, but I don't think those kind of mistakes should mean we shouldn't do the right thing in regards to health care!!

My opinion is that a lot of people are just being short-sighted in regards to the benefits that this nation would get from improving the level of health in this country-to me there is no doubt that it would do that, only question is to what degree-not only from productivity, reducing costs of goods & services, manufacturing, auto-workers, things we have largely lost to other countries, etc. Then also consider that it will help people of working age, compared to Medicare, which only helps senior citizens..

and I feel that my earlier point is getting lost in the sauce here, that the most important priority, the number one thing, the big cheese:

is to lower the TOTAL price of health care, so that for instance, we are not paying more for the same services that other countries do, we shouldn't be paying two, three, or twenty times as much for the very same drugs actually produced in this country!

that has to be done by breaking the monopoly, or oligopoly if you prefer, that the industry has over us, by ideally creating a competition to it, or less ideally, legislation that is created to create a better balance. But either way, start by repealing the current antiquated laws that give them an unfair advantage!

Dow