Bill,

I suggest getting some first hand experience in these matters and not placing as much reliance on biased studies and books.

Spend a couple weeks in a hospital emergency room and you'll quickly discover that only about 1/3 of those receiving medical treatment pay for it.

You'll also find that half more use the ER for their primary health care instead of visiting a local clinic where they would have to pay for health care. They show up with runny noses, broken toe nails, minor scratches, and they're immediately treated.

Now, for the above studies you posted, I could site an equal number of opposing views for each and every one of them, but it's not really worth my time and effort to go through the archives and list them.

Bill, when it comes to health care there is no substitute for practical, hands-on experience. Yes, you can obtain some basic information from books and studies, but books, studies, surveys and statistics can only go so far. That's why medical students must go through an internship, residencies and post doctoral fellowships. That's where they obtain their hands-on experience, and in some cases, wash out of medicine altogether. The demands of internship, and residency, both physically and mentally, are beyond anything anyone can possibly imagine.

If you believe that socialized medicine is the way to go, that's your prerogative, and in this nation, you have the freedom to choose what your government can and cannot do. For me, I'm still trying to find one thing the government administers that has been successful. I sure as Hell do not want a lying-assed politician in making decisions about how MY health care is administered.

It may seem like a good idea when you are relatively you and still in good health, but one day this will all change. That morning will come when you get out of bed, turn on the PC and check your email, just like every other day. Then a pain will run down your arm, not something like you've felt in the past, but nothing severe. Soon, it will be followed by shortness of breath and increasing pain, dizziness, and your heart begins to slam. The pressure inside your chest makes it feel as an 800-pound gorilla is standing on your chest. Yep--you're having a heart attack.

There's no one at home other than you, you crawl to the telephone, call 911. You're hoping that you survive until medical help arrives, which usually takes a few minutes at best. A well trained EMT breaks down the door, enters your home, connects you to an oxygen tank, while a well-trained assistant starts an IV. Within the next 10 minutes you're on your way to the nearest hospital, and instead of being immediately ushered into the exam room for an EKG by a practicing cardiologist, then off to the Operating Room for a cardiac cathederazation by a highly skilled cardiac team, stenting by a cardiovascular surgeon, and into the recovery room where a team of nurses,technicians and physicians that specialize in cardiology immediately go to work. That's the way the system works NOW!

OR, with socialized medicine, because you are NOW 70 years old when all of the above occurs you no longer meet the criteria for receiving costly stents. You're placed on a stretcher in an ER cubicle, administered some oxygen, then handed a pile of papers to fill out so you can get on the list that needs stenting.

Politics should NEVER be permitted to intrude into health care--and that's not just my opinion--it's the opinion of most every in this nation.

I'm going to work now so I can earn enough money to pay this week's taxes.

Gary