Letters to the Editor
-
I'm not here to antagonize, insult, pick fights or be sarcastic. Just to ask a question.
Why does anyone think it makes sense to compare the medical programs in countries like Canada, Cuba or England, the populations of which combined don't equal half of that of the USA, to the medical program here?
Please, someone cite a country with socialized medicine which also has a population of 300 million, a system that works, and maybe I'll be more persuaded. I have nothing against Michael Moore. I loved Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine. But I think he's bitten off way more than he can chew by expecting that a country with 300 million people, with 60%+ of them being overweight, and a large number of them entering their golden years, can somehow build a system in which everything is "free". It's not gonna happen in our lifetimes.
-
simplistic
You write about "...the frustrating Moore earmarks -- most notably, a deliberately simplistic desire to render everything in black-and-white terms, as if he didn't trust his audience enough to follow him into some of the far more complex gray areas."
It seems to me that if Bowling for Columbine were simplisticly bw, Moore wouldn't have brought his own NRA membership and the high level of Canadian gun ownership into consideration. For sure, these didn't make BFC profound, but they saved that film from a simplistic trajectory critics hang around Moore rather, well, simplistically.
-
Why no healthcare? Ask Ross Perot
The reason that we don't have government healthcare is that we can't afford it, due to our huge national debt and the interest that we pay every year, which last year was a staggering $406 billion. So for everyone who dozed off when Perot pulled out his charts, this is the price for not holding your politicians accountable for the deficits that they have created.
-
In Canada
Of course the Canadian healthcare system isn't perfect--there are waiting times that some people find unendurable--and it isn't free; we pay for it in taxes. But here's the reality: if I have any medical problem whatsoever, from a torn tendon to cancer, I simply go to my doctor or an emergency room, I show them a card, and I get treated. No paperwork, no co-payments, no trauma, no plaguing fear that an unexpected illness will ruin me.
A former co-worker, an American citizen married to a Canadian and living here for some years, decided to return to the States when her marriage ran aground. She had been in a minor car accident in the States as a teenager, and the emergency room bill alone was over $1000, so she knew what was possible if she ran into health problems. In the month before she left Canada, she made as many doctor's appointments as she could reasonably justify, because she knew, with some fear, that when she returned to her home country and went back to school, she would have no medical coverage of any sort for at least two years and possibly more. What kind of way is that to live? How can a civilized and unimaginably wealthy country do that to its citizens?
-
.
I like Moore's style of adding archived film clips to quirky music. It's a nice break from a lot of heavy material. I don't believe documentaries have to be entirely serious to be effective, but I suppose it is a matter of personal preference. It seems like because we are a country of 300+ million we should have the best health care in the world, and because the States are home to so many millionaires (and billionaires). Maybe obesity wouldn't be such a problem if corporations weren't allowed to run rampant in public schools, and kids actually had a choice to eat healthy. That is just one of many problems pertaining to American obesity...
-
Japan Would Have Been Another
system to explore. Last winter I went to the emergency room here in Tokyo, pushed the bell for service, was asked a few questions by the guy behind the window, and then ushered in to see the doctor. Nobody else there! The window guy apologetically asked me to pay $40 and told me to bring the receipt the next day during operating hours when I was to come back for an x-ray. Had the x-ray, etc. and was given BACK $20 after submitting the emergency room receipt (and wasn't charged anything extra for the x-ray, etc). A Canadian friend came over as a student, went to the city hall to register for national health care and was advised to wait until something happened to him. When it did, he was treated at the hospital and simply applied for nat'l health that was applied retroactively. I don't know the background mechanics of it all, but it sure works for the citizens/residents. Nobody says they can't retire because they are worried about health care costs. Nobody.
-
Economies of Scale
Anonymous asks "Why does anyone think it makes sense to compare the medical programs in countries like Canada, Cuba or England, the populations of which combined don't equal half of that of the USA, to the medical program here?”
That’s like asking “How can a large company with great economies of scale expect to compete with a small mom and pop business.”
The US should be able to provide the same universal healthcare as Canada and do it for a lot less money.
Come on, do Americans really want to have a lower standard of healthcare than Canadians?!?!?
-
fat and happy
the reason there isn't free healthcare in america is because the government and the large healthcare companies have convinced the american people (fooled maybe) that its not possible. these posts are evidence of this. the american people should demand it. but they won't because they are too lazy too engage in politics. the government has kept them fat and happy and hasn't required any of them to sacrifice for anything, and this includes the war.
there maybe over 300 million people but there are 50 states which could each develop some kind of scheme just like they did in Mass.
america has this great democracy but none of you can be bothered to use it.
-
Dump The Military
If the large corporations and rich guys want to have a force to protect their stuff, to open new markets for them, and to ensure they have cheap raw resources, they should pay out of their profits. Why should the entire population pay under the guise of defending freedoms, spreading democracy, etc?? Cut back the military, cut off all the huge contracts, cut off all the pork, put the personnel into the private sector, and heck, you'd be able to have a great free medical system.