Re: Know your enemy & Nuff said on Pete: who was harmed? & Pissed at Pete Too !!!! &

["O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>
>Subject: Re: Know your enemy & Nuff said on Pete: who was harmed? & Pissed at Pete Too !!!! & 
>Woke up Free but Branded by his Fans Too?
>
>It's an catchy assertion, but the healthcare system is not defunct, 
>as I can clearly demonstrate with my past few years of medical 
>records and the fact that people come here from all over the world 
>for treatment.

Well, I'm not trying to be catchy, and my last 14 years (and going) of direct provider group and hospital consulting tells me that our system is indeed defunct.
How else would you describe a system that allows 43+million people (at last count) to be uninsured?  Or, for the most powerful and rich country in the world to rank only 38th in healthcare delivery and efficiency?  We're behind countries like Argentina, Uganda, etc.
It's really a social embarrasement.

Granted, there's no perfect system out there, and particularly here in VT we see scores of Canadian radiation therapy patients due to lack of Canadian resources (more MRI machines in LA county alone than all of Canada), but "defunct" is indeed an appropriate description.

But, my point is only that with our current class-based system, where the poor are unable to achieve healthcare coverage, allowing the legalization of hard and physically destructive drugs like Heroine, or crack, would just inundate healthcare facilities with a bunch of people who need help, yet can't pay for it.
And then you and I end up picking up the tab via ballooning coverage costs.

As it is, there's a 200 person waiting list to enter the only methadone clinic in VT.
And we have socialized medicine for a large number of the poor!

But enough about healthcare.
I come here to get away from it.   ;-)

Kevin in VT