Dave wrote:
On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:08:07 -0500, Marty said:

Not at all. If the politicians want to throw money at the doctors I don't
fault the doctors for saying "thank you very much" and sticking the cash in
their pockets.
I don't think the Government is throwing money at doctors at all, you're
missing the point; doctors are only getting 6% of the health care
dollar. There's huge chunks going to a bloated administrative system,
probably even vaster amounts going to the legal system and all the
people employed therein busy suing the **** out each other, this is
perhaps somewhat euphemistically called "Malpractice Insurance".

You miss the point. The question is not whether the money we're throwing at
medicine is going to the doctors, the nurses, the hospital administrators,
or any of the other cast of characters in your play. The issue rather is
that the decision to spend the money for a particular doctor's visit, X-ray,
"procedure" or other item is being made in most instances by someone with no
financial stake in that decision. If you stand on the corner and hand out
free candy bars, people are going to eat a lot of candy, but either you're
gonna run out of candy very quickly or you'll have to stop handing the candy
out for free.


Nice snipping there Dave, your country is already spending more per
capita that any other industrialized nation on the planet, yet you are
unable to deliver decent health care to your entire populace. All you
seem to be able to say is "It can't be done, it'll cost too much, people
will line up like pigs at the trough....." Yet dozens of other nations
do supply universal health care...

Cheers
Marty