The article is pasted below so you don't have to leave the blog. It was worth the cut and paste.
Healthcare-an open letter to my friend, Theresa
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Theresa believes that she is in favor of universal healthcare. But is she?
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by Fred
(Libertarian)
Health Care--an open letter to my friend, Theresa
O.K., so you are telling me you are going to vote for Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. You tell me that the reason that you are doing this is because you want everyone to be able to have good health care. I know that you were shocked when I told you that I, also, want everyone to be able to have good health care. You didn't believe me because you know that I (like almost all libertarians) oppose government health care.
"Why?" you asked me, "Why do you not support universal health care?"
"Forget about me," I replied, "I'll tell you why YOU don't support government health care."
Now I know that this is confusing, because you believe that you want universal health care, but you don't.
Stick with me for a few minutes and I'll show you why I believe that you are against government health care.
"Do you like our current president?" I ask.
"George Bush?" you respond (somewhat offended), "God NO! He is the worst president ever."
"So, what is it you don't like about him?" I ask
"The WAR, his terrible economic plan, his desire to drill for oil in Alaska, his connections with the oil and military supply companies, and of course FEMA's response to Katrina" You say.
"Good, how do you feel about Bill Clinton" I ask.
"I think he was pretty good," you say, "I didn't like the bombing of Kosovo, and the economy kind of tanked at the end of his 2nd term, but mostly I liked him."
"George Bush (the elder)? I asked.
"Another war president!" You asserted, "He broke his promises, cut social programs for the handicapped, mismanaged the LA riots, and also made the economy worse."
"Ronald Reagan?" I probed.
"The man wanted ketchup to be considered a vegetable for our school lunch programs!" you told me, "He took away social programs and left mentally unstable people homeless. And then there was his cabinet. James Watt, the secretary of the interior, who seemed to hate the environment..."
I know you wanted to continue, but I interrupted. "How about Jimmy Carter?"
"I liked Carter." You said, "He was a good man. He didn't get us into any wars."
"Ford?" I asked.
"I don't have much to say about him. All I remember is that he pardoned Nixon."
"What about Nixon?" I asked.
"Do I even need to tell you?" You questioned, "He was very bad."
O.K. So what did we learn about you. Over the course of your lifetime we have had seven different presidents. You have liked the president 12 out of 40 years or about 30% of the time. Let me ask you another question. "You didn't like the way FEMA handled the Katrina disaster, do you think that the Red Cross handled it better"
"Yes, they did a much better job." You replied.
"If you could have," I continued, "would you have given your tax dollars to the Red Cross instead of FEMA?"
"Of course." You replied.
"If," I asked, "You were doing business with a company and they gave you bad service would you want to be forced to keep doing business with that company or would you like to switch to a different company?"
"I would want to switch, Duh." You said.
"That is why YOU are against government sponsored healthcare." I stated.
"But I want universal healthcare!" you claimed.
"Do you?" I asked. "If you, or your child, or your mother needed an operation who do you trust to make that decision? Do you want the availability of that procedure to be in the hands of someone appointed by the president (remember you disapproved of the president 70% of the years you were alive)? Do you think a new government agency (like FEMA) could handle the situation better than a non-profit organization? Do you think you should be denied choices because the government controls all of the options?"
"No," you said, "I just want people to be able to have good health care."
So do I.
I could be a Libertarian? 
2 comments:
to my surprise, I married a Libertarian. And we argue about health care. I'm an Australian, and we have government-run care, which means that there's some basic coverage, but everyone buys private insurance, as well. It's still a 'money buys care' system, although nobody gets left completely out.
So, what? I think the advantage is that you don't have to use the ER for your primary care, and you can get that surgery done...eventually. Still, it's enough that I made sure that both the boys are dual citizens, so that if the Eldest outgrows a lifetime cap and the insurance business really goes up in flames, we're fine.
In Australia.
I'd sign up for a system that allows me to get "basic services". I still would want to know what services they would consider basic and who makes that decision. Would it be "a la carte" basic care or "Las Vegas Buffet" basic care? Would the cost of the system go out of control like the cost of submarine that starts @ 150 million to make and then end up costing us 500 million to make the next one due to cost overruns? I wouldn't!
Thanks for the Australia insight :)
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