[Publib] Now you've asked

[Backwage at aol.com]

But now you've asked, you might consider a very important place where  
absolutely socialized medicine prevails, right here in this country.
 
I write about the military.  When I was in the naval service of your  
country, we didn't have any insurance or forms to fill out, or anything like the  
world outside the base fence.
 
When we got sick we went to the doctor.  Or the dentist.  For  that matter, 
we had to go for regular checkups twice a year just to see what if  
anything was wrong with us.  I got new eyeglasses every six months--best  
prescriptions and frames I've ever had.  Saw specialists on a few hours'  notice.  
 
No charge for prescriptions or equipment or anything.  A short wait  for 
service, perhaps a half hour in busy times.  They only did one thing  
wrong--saved my life when I got blood poisoning, but you can't do everything  right. 
 Oh, and I had a world-class plastic surgeon put my face together  when it 
got rearranged in a mugging.  
 
On the ship we had hospital corpsmen to take care of minor problems and  
first aid.  They were simply excellent for hangovers.  And for those  
inconvenient social diseases one picks up in foreign ports.  Me, I stuck to  
hangovers.
 
Many navy guys I knew stayed in because they had children or spouses with  
medical problems that would have bankrupted them otherwise; they seemed very 
 happy with the "limited choice" of world-class medicine for their  
dependents.  
 
Today, a lady where I work came in looking bedraggled.  I mentioned  that 
her hair was getting a bit long and she said, "I can either get my hair cut  
or pay for my prescriptions."  Mind you, we are supposed to have a very  
good health plan here, but it has a cutoff for services at a certain dollar  
amount.  She can choose to pay her rent or take her medicine, but not  both.  
That's freedom of choice, you know.
 
Show me an opponent of health care reform and I'll show you somebody with  
paid-up insurance and a spouse with a good job.  Half my friends can't  
afford health insurance, and they aren't bums.  Nor are they  socialists--though 
I am, and know that what Obama is proposing isn't anything  like socialism. 
 Which is just too bad.  Socialism is what happens  when ignorance fades 
away.  The library is socialism in its finest  form.  But some of us don't get 
that, and will die not getting it.
 
Michael McGrorty
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy 
steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=115&bcd
=JulystepsfooterNO115)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20090805/6f95b36b/attachment.htm