Universal Health Care

Just as no one should have to go without food and shelter in the richest country in the world, the biggest disgrace in this country is how much we are unwilling to care for the less fortunate. In many municipalities and counties across the country there are medical facilities - hospitals that are called non-profit. How do we know they are non-profit? They do not have to account to anyone except usually a hand picked board of directors, about their income or expenses, just as national non-profit groups such as The American Heart Association, March of Dimes, the United Way, and so on. Their non profit status puts them in the same category as religious organizations, except that these medical facilities sometimes receive taxpayer funds.

Would you invest in any organization or business that did not give reports of their financial condition on a regular basis? I don't think so. You are if you pay taxes, but you are not granted the knowledge of any salaries paid to its administration, expenses for upkeep, or how much is received for treatment and care of indigent patients

The most successful social program, in my opinion, is Medicare. Millions of older persons of modest means are able to receive health care because of this. No, it is not free, because a small premium is deducted from their Social Security benefits each month. There are doctors and medical facilities that are called "cost-wise", i.e., they will accept as payment for their services that amount allowed by schedule from Medicare. There is also an optional Plan D supplement that can be purchased by Medicare recipients that will pay a portion of expenses that Medicare does not, or if they choose, they can get supplemental private medical insurance that does the same. Even for retired persons of modest means, these are generally affordable. If the company or business you worked for had a health care plan, you can sometimes carry this in a modified form into your retirement.

As with anything else with people involved, there is fraud and abuse. These should be sought out and prosecuted whenever they are discovered.

The United States is one of a very few developed countries in the world that does not have Universal Health Care. Those that oppose it are the same ones that have made social programs and socialism into dirty words, and an evil they have to keep out of this country. These are the ones that are greedy and always taking without giving. They have forgotten what our Founders knew from the beginning that there is a price that must be paid for freedom and liberty.