It was my party and I'll cry if I want to

Originally Posted by SteveZ

The problems with socialized medicine are twofold.

One - the public expectation of what that care shall provide can never be met at any cost. There will always be situations where care is administered too little, too late or not at all, simply because there will be a finite amount of resources trying to satisfy an infinite demand.

Two - no matter what delivery system is set up to provide care, there will always be a segment of the population which will exploit it to the detriment of others. The best current example is hospital emergency room service - go into any emergency room at any hour of the day, and there are people seeking "clinic" type care for everything from runny noses to gout, and the ER has no chooice but to service them. Add to that fact is that in many of the ERs the a significant percentage of patients are illegal aliens - a problem most obvious in the nborder regions.

Perhaps a plan could be for the US Public Health Service to establish 24/7 open-door clinics in proximiity to hospital emergency rooms, so that ERs can be ERs again. USPHS clinics would have patient responsibility, and if additional services are needed, USPHS might provide vouchers redeemable for more expansive medical services. Anything else would appear to drag the quality of future care to the lowest common denominator - not a comforting thought!