Socialized Medicine Thy Name is Walter Reed
Written by Mark Harris on March 5th, 2007Reason magazine has a great post about something I had totally missed in this Walter Reed hullabaloo. The same people going ape over the admittedly appalling conditions at Walter Reed are the same folks pushing for universal, socialized health care. Wait for it….
Oh yeah we already have a socialized health care system, its called the VA…
So next time some lefty wants to lecture you about socialized health care ask him if he wants to start going to the VA hospital next time he gets sick.
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Three points:
1. Walter Reed is not a V.A. facility, it is a regular Army facility.
2. V.A. medical care is considered about the finest in America today.
3. If you’re looking for problems with Walter Reed, look at the fact that administration there was PRIVATIZED (to a firm controlled by two former Halliburton executives) — with the attendant slashing of administrative staff & departure of competent federal bureaucrats whose presence MIGHT have assured a higher level of care for our veterans.
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1. It still is a government run institution
2. VA medical care is considered the finest in America today… wow. I am glad that a liberal leaning magazine thinks so but my grandfather who could have gone to the VA chose to pay to go elsewhere and that was just a few years ago.
3. I can’t speak to this point other than obviously they picked the wrong contractor.
The point still stands that as conservatives have l believe a very strong case that whenever government runs health care things go south and quickly. If you want to wait 12 months for an MRI in Canada well then go right ahead, I got mine in 2 hours here in the US.
Why would we go towards socialized health care when all over Europe they are turning away from it. Heck, even the Scandinavian countries are allowing private care for the first time ever. At the end of the day, this whole argument is about the same thing communism was: equality. Equality of misery.
As Michael Crichton said, “If you love the Post Office, you’ll love socialized health care”.
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It’s not just a “liberal leaning magazine.” It’s also a representative of the American Legion — and several reputable national studies, as you can hear for yourself in the NBC news story (which also notes that the transformation from doing a poor job to doing a great job began under the Clinton administration.