I don't think government-run health care for the US is a good idea.
i think its a terrific idea, as good an idea as the EPA, the FDA, the FAA, the SEC, our military services, and like them, something that neither private companies nor the states could ever be trusted to do.
Or look at Amtrak.
yes, lets look at amtrak. "In the late 1960s, the end of passenger rail in the United States seemed near. First had come the requests for termination of services; now came the bankruptcy filings. The legendary Pullman Company became insolvent in 1969, followed by the dominant railroad in the Northeastern United States, the Penn Central, in 1970. It now seemed that passenger rail's financial problems might bring down the railroad industry as a whole."
whats this? private companies failed? Naaaah.
"In 1970, Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed into law, the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), sought government funding to assure the continuation of passenger trains. They conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), a hybrid public-private entity that would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains. The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, but shortly before the company started operating it was changed to Amtrak."
Whats this? Amtrak was signed into law by NIXON?!
naaaah.
"Following the bankruptcy of several northeastern railroads in the early 1970s, including Penn Central which owned and operated the Northeast Corridor, Congress passed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of
1976"
whats this? private companies continued failing? naaaaah.
"
The Nixon administration secretly agreed with some railroads that Amtrak would be shut down after two years.
whats this, and Nixon had designed amtrak to fail? Naaaaah.
"After Fortune magazine exposed the manufactured mismanagement in 1974, Louis W. Menk, chairman of the Burlington Northern Railroad remarked that the story was undermining the scheme to dismantle Amtrak.[9] Though for its entire existence the company has been subjected to political cross-winds and insufficient capital resources"
naaaah.
and despite this, "Amtrak's ridership has maintained consistent growth."
naaaah.
oh, and hows it doing now?
"Amtrak set its sixth straight year of record ridership, with 28.7 million passengers for the 12 months ended September 30, 2008"naaaaah. I dont believe it.
Or the postal service.
you really hate paying 40 cents for door to door delivery huh? wow.
You also seem to think the guv'ment is or should be a profit making entity. Um, its not, and it shouldnt be. Didnt you pay any attention in your high school civics classes?
The quality of health care in the US is among the best in the world.
for those who can afford it. Um, thats the problem, in case you werent paying attention. Its a, um, huge problem.
Even if the government had the money to subsidize health care
again you dont understand either the problem or the solution. The problem IS healthcare costs; the solution isnt "subsidy" but reducing those costs by introducing efficiencies that private companies have refused to introduce themselves, such as creating a single pool of insurance customers who can share the costs and expense much more efficiently. Obama's proposal is still a free market system, by the way. You should really read it some time and get less of your information from glenn beck and rush limbaugh.
while you're at it, try reading a history book now and then. Its your responsiblity to be informed of all sides of the debate as a citizen; to not be informed is pretty unpatriotic actually. Are you a commie or something? You clearly
want our government to fail and seem to relish in its difficulties. How much more unpatriotic can you get?
