Warning! This Country Has Already Been Infiltrated by Single Payer and Socialized Medicine!

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The Single Payer Scourge.

There is already a very large single payer health care system operating in this country.  It’s called Medicare.   It has been around since 1965, beginning 44 years ago.  The relevant Wikipedia article reads, in part…

“Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. Medicare operates as a single-payer health care system …(emphasis mine).”

Did you note that the first sentence described Medicare as a “social insurance program?”  If the talking heads on the major television networks are to be believed, doesn’t that sound like socialism, which is at least a first cousin, if not an identical or fraternal twin of communism?  

Socialized Medicine – Please Say It Ain’t So!

As if the scourge of single payer isn’t bad enough (even worse than the heartbreak of psoriasis), the bad news doesn’t end here. Be sure to sit down and take a deep breath first before reading any further.

We also have a large socialized medicine network in this country.  No wonder our economy is teetering on the brink!  You’ve never heard of this program? Well, it’s been around for awhile. In fact, this system can trace its origins to the opening of a federal hospital – the Hand Hospital in Pittsburgh in 1778.  

Those Founding Fathers must have been closet pinkos after all.  You know, socialized health care, freedom of speech, the Bill of Rights (except for the Second Amendment) and, maybe worst of all, mentioning that dreaded word “happiness” in the Declaration of Independence.   What will become of this country if people start thinking that they have a right to the pursuit of happiness?  

According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, socialized medicine is defined as “a system of health care delivery in which care is provided as a state-supported service (emphasis mine).”   According to American Progress, “The Veterans Health Administration, which is similar to the British system, actually qualifies as a socialized system of medicine under the strictest definition.”  

Time is Running Short – Take Action Now!

If you are opposed to single-payer (aka Medicare) and are retired, or socialized medicine (aka Veterans Health Administration) and are a veteran, contact the federal government, tell those feds they can put their government-run socialist program.  Demand to opt out if you can.  It may already be too late, but if we all act quickly and decisively, there may still be hope.

With the economy in the shambles that it is in today, the government would most assuredly be delighted to reap the savings occasioned by your withdrawal from the program.  Do your patriotic duty.  Go shopping at the private insurance market. Purchase your very own health care insurance. Just make sure that you don’t have any pre-existing conditions.

You’ve no doubt heard well-coiffed talking heads tell you that government-run programs don’t allow you to choose your own doctor. One can only wonder why the elderly and our veterans aren’t marching by the millions in Washington, D.C., demanding change.

Once you’ve found a company to insure you, just start sending in the monthly premiums (or alternatively, your social security check, veteran’s disability check and/or the proceeds from your reverse mortgage) and voila – you now “own” your own health insurance.  

Once an existing medical problem resurfaces, or a new one arises, you can then “test drive” your new insurance.

You could then think of your health care insurance as an investment, you know, like your house. Since you own it, shouldn’t you be able to sell it if someone will pay you a decent price? Note of caution: you’d better check the fine print first.

Once your friends and family discover how excited you are about the new plan, they will surely be overcome with envy. But, they too, can follow suit and rid themselves of yet another unwanted governmental intrusion into their lives.  

Think of the additional profits you’ll be generating for the large healthcare companies. After all, healthcare CEOs need to eat too. Caviar isn’t getting any cheaper. Can you imagine the shame the United States would suffer in the court of world opinion if these poor executives were reduced to standing on street corners, extending their well-manicured hands, begging for handouts or even worse, suffering the indignity of driving there own Rolls Royce since they are no longer able to afford a chauffeur?  

Can you imagine the heart-rending signs you might see while strolling around Wall Street? You’d no longer need to fly to Calcutta or Bombay to witness such sadness.

You will surely be driven to tears when you encounter signs carrying heart-rending messages like, “My yacht is being repossessed! Please help!” or “I’m trying to move my office overseas, but am running a little short on cash. Can you help with a small donation of $10,000 or more?”  

So are you still working or not a veteran? You can always speak with your retired parents or grandparents and any veterans of your acquaintance. Pass this important information along to them. Once you explain the benefits, they will surely follow suit. They would probably do anything to escape from their government-run program.  

Mother’s Day is already behind us, but if you hurry, you can still get this done by Father’s Day. Do your loved ones a huge favor. Convince them to switch to private pay.  They will be eternally grateful, and, this bears repeating, they will finally be able to choose their very own doctor.

In the unlikely event that these newly minted private pay people run into a little trouble paying for their medical bills, help them find work and while you’re at it, pick up a second or third job yourself to help them out. Organize a bake sale or put your creative talent to good use. Charge admission for your comedy act at a local club, promising to donate all proceeds to your struggling friend. After all, what could be more uniquely American than that?  

Opportunity Beckons!

Would you like to make a few extra bucks on the side and see the world at the same time?  Every other industrialized nation in the world (Cuba included) provides health care for all of their citizens. The poor insurance companies in those countries can hardly make a decent living since, if they allowed to exist at all, they are typically required to be non-profit. Sell people in those countries on the idea of scrapping their current system, replacing it with the profit-driven arrangement we all enjoy in this country.  And don’t ever forget this slogan – “Profits Before People – That’s the American Way!”

Remind them of the multitudes in this country who are so grateful that they paid attention to the “Harry and Louise” ads in the early 1990s when the ill-fated proposal to provide health care for all, besieged with unrelenting attacks from an enraged citizenry, died a very quick death. Cite the countless, profound improvements in healthcare that wouldn’t have been possible had our nation fallen headlong into such a terrible socialist trap.  

Sell those people on changing their system to the one that most of us enjoy. Grateful health care companies will surely share some of their newfound riches with you. You and your family will be set for at least the next millennium.

Finally, at least some of you will agree that this writer has saved the best for last.

And Now For The Closing Argument:

Still Aren’t Sold?

Maybe you are one of those rare Doubting Thomases (or Thomasinas) who remain unconvinced. You just might be one of those people who didn’t take Ronald Reagan seriously. If you are still laughing, you can stop now.

And what if you are one of those shameless individuals who simply cannot stop laughing and cannot take Reagan seriously? If you are one of the few who still believe the socialist propaganda that Medicare and the VA are the best available options, then you must surely subscribe to the following inescapable, terrifying conclusion:

WE SHOULD EXTEND THIS SYSTEM TO EVERYONE, NOT JUST PEOPLE WHO ARE 65 OR OLDER, DISABLED, OR VETERANS.