Universal Health Care = Rationed Health Care

Universal health care is not the panacea it is promoted to be.

For a health care system to be universal, it must be managed by the government because the government is the only universal factor in society. The problem with that is the only way the government to manage health care is to ration it. So, a bureaucrat in a government office somewhere becomes the one to decide who gets health care, what kind of care they get, and how much.

Sound familiar? Isn't that what people have criticized HMO's for doing? With government rationed health care, that's what we can expect, and to a degree worse than what anyone has experienced with HMO's. Why? Because HMO's are businesses, and businesses will change their policies when they lose customers to their competitors. The government doesn't have competitors. People relying on government rationed health care are not customers and do not have the option of seeking health care anywhere else. Without compitettion, the government has no incentive to chage its policies, unless a riot occurs right outside the bureaucrat's door.

Someone recently wrote in to the Tulsa World and stated that Jordanians have a longer life expectancy than Americans, implying that this indicates a deficiency in the US health care system. Chances are, Jordanians eat a healthier diet than the typical American diet. The lettter writer didn't say anything about the type of health care system in Jordan. I don't hear much about people going to Jordan just to get superior health care. But I have heard of people coming from Canada to the US for life-saving surgery.

Health care begins with each individual. We all make choices, good or bad, about diet, exercise, hygiene and safety, that have a greater impact on our health than the decisions of any doctor, nurse, dentist, physical therapist, or government bureaucrat. Do you want the government taking those choices away from you or anyone else? For the government to make those choices for you is tyranny.

Beware of statistics cited by bureaucrats and politicians that seem to favor the government takeover of health care. If they can convince people of the for need government rationed health care, then they have created a need for government. If you "need" the government to take care of your health, you "need" the bureaucrats and politicians. They call that job security.

Before someone begins to think that I am a rich Republican who has gobs of insurance or can afford whatever health care I want, I have not had insurance for a long time. I did not have insurance 6 years ago when I had surgery. I am still paying the bills. If you think that is a pity, that the government should help me by paying my bills for me, my question is: Why? Why should the government do that for me? The government didn't cause my problem, and the government is not responsible for taking care of me. I am.