The Cost of Free Government Health Care
Weekly Editorial - June 11, 2009
Questions
NOTE TO STUDENTS:
- This might seem like a depressing or boring subject, but it will affect your life a great deal - more so than the senior citizens of today. You should educate yourself on this issue, and then make your voice heard.
- President Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress pledged in May to pass a health care reform bill by July 31. The President said in a letter to top Democrats that he wants a government-run, government-owned health insurance plan to be included in the law, and that all Americans should be required to have health care.
- Think about the Canadians in the video linked to in question #5. Read the information under "Resources" below, and/or do your own research on health care reform, and government-controlled health care. Read the articles on the alternative solutions proposed to fix the problems with the cost of health insurance. Discuss this issue with your parents and/or grandparents.
1. Countries with government-run health care include Great Britain and Canada. In his commentary, David Gibberman lists several major problems with government-controlled health care. List these problems.
2. How do governments that control a country's health care reduce their costs? (List at least 3)
3. List the ways a delay in being treated for an illness affects a patient and his family.
4. Read about an alternative proposal to fix the health insurance problem in America at The Republican Health Care Alternative.
What do you think of this proposal compared to government controlled health care? Explain your answer.
Ask a parent if he/she would prefer to have control over your families' medical care, or have the government be in control, and to explain his/her answer.
5. Many problems have been reported with Great Britain's government-run health care system:
-patients dying unnecessarily (up to 1,200 patients may have died through bad nursing and filthy conditions at one government hospital in Staffordshire)
-patients being denied medical treatment that is not determined to be cost-effective by a government agent, etc.
Canadians come to the U.S. for medical treatment because the wait at the government-run hospitals is too long for some life-saving treatments, and they are prohibited from paying a Canadian doctor privately to give them care.
Watch several videos on this at freemarketcure.com/brainsurgery.php and freemarketcure.com/uninsuredinamerica.php.
Email your Senators and Representative's office expressing your support for, or opposition to, government-run universal health care.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR CONGRESS:
--To contact your representative, go to House.gov
--To contact your senators, go to Senate.gov