If fire insurance were like health insurance.

I get really tired of all the excuses doctors have for their standard of living, in Canada, and elsewhere. There are lots of us, like Eric and myself, who spent a lot of time and money in school to advance our careers, and have benefited society as a result. (Well, probably more Eric than me.)

I don't buy that old line about "lives in our hands" either. How much did they pay the last guy who worked on the elevator you're about to ride in?

Like anything else in a free or semi-free marketplace, doctors charge that much because they can get away with it.
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I only had red fire extinguishers. Yellow is apparently required.

The issue of compensation rates for doctors is a blind alley. It sidetracks discussion and diverts attention from just who is really profiting from healthcare in the hands of private insurers.
There are no doctors raking in bundles of cash at the levels achieved by those at the top of the corporations controlling healthcare in the states.

Healthcare is a right, not a damned privilege.
There are many well financed lobby efforts aimed at protecting the profits of corporate healthcare.
These lobbyists, speaking on behalf of the profiteers, have derailed government run universal single payer and removed it from the table as an option in the healthcare reform talks.

I don't know when or how they got to Obama, but they did.
It's up to each individual to write or phone their elected representative and make it very clear that the health for profit system must be abandoned for the common good of the citizens of the United States.
Congress needs to hear the voices of many citizens as quickly as possible to shoot down the list of options being suggested by those who profit from your health emergencies.

This bastardized, watered down garbage being presented as a viable option should be deemed by all as unacceptable and pressure needs to be applied by citizens to get the healthcare they need and deserve.

Every American citizen needs to start thinking of healthcare as a basic human right.
The way we treat the weakest amongst us is a reflection of our society.
Don't allow the pigs to remain at the trough to further gorge themselves on something that is too important to be allowed to remain in the hands of profiteers.

Careful Eric, I hear that it is hard for socialists to get government funding where you live.
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I disagree that we should hand over the duty of taking care of "the weakest" to government. In the end, it's the responsibility of us all to take care of others.

I disagree that we should hand over the duty of taking care of "the weakest" to government. In the end, it's the responsibility of us all to take care of others.

The government is all of us. It is our collective will that allows government to exist.

It's also true, in spite of what libertarian thought and corporatists tell us, one of the things government can do very well is take care of those in need.

Try telling that to the Hurricane Katrina victims.

So what alternatives to governments handling natural disasters (etc.) do you propose? What are their track records?

Yes, governments suck many times, and really suck once in a while. But what are the choices?
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Healthcare is a right, not a damned privilege

When advocates of privatization are elected to public office, they bring their ideologies with them.
The first thing they do is put people who agree with that philosophy into top government agencies.
The next step is to run the department into the ground while spouting off that government can't compete.
Some of the reactionary crowd in the general public and those not paying attention to the timelines and histories actually buy this garbage.

There are no magic employees in the private sector.
There are no supermen in the private sector.

The only reason this myth is perpetuated is that corporate profiteers see a chance to further suck public monies from government coffers.

Private over public is all bull$#!+

That's your opion and you have the right to it. I have seen 1'st hand the private sector doing it better,road construction comes to mind off the top of my head. Low bidder is accepted and everyone prospers because of COMPETITION.Not a lot of competition in government. Try waiting in line in this country to get your drivers license renewed or even mail something, the indifference and apathy are quite infuriating.I also notice the maple leaf on your flag. Not to sterotype, but just the opion I would have expected.

I think we can agree to disagree.
If you make an oop's, and your license expires on your bithday, you do have to wait in line, but that was my fault. I still did not expect rude service but that is what I got. As far as macy's goes, I have never received anything but prompt cheerfull service, but then they are one of about eight large dept. stores in the Minneapolis area. Fed Ex? My sister-in-law recently sent a box from San Antonio, it was on my front porch in Minneapolis the next mourning less than 20 hours later. I do not believe the U.S.P.S. is currently capable of that. I will grant you they are good at what they do.

I do believe that people who have been laid-off due to bad economic times should be allowed to continue thier health coverage at less than a million dollars a month. As for all the other people, the ones who are habitual welfare recipients, who have more kids to get a bigger check, no, it is not up to me to support them and I would cut them off immediately.

The whole idea of socialized medical care goes against my grain. As I stated previously, I think grown-ups should pretty much take care of themselves.