Government run health care? Will it be like the VA?

Hospitals aren't that clean now! You can go into the hospital for a blood test or some other minor procedure, and come out sick as a dog! Problem with National Health Care, did anyone think of what the doctors are going to do? I can see Private physicians appearing all over the country again. Sure, you would have to pay for it, but at least you will get better care! Under this Socialized Medicine Plan, a doctor will be limited to how much time he spends with a patient! Quick way to keep the "ball" rolling would be to dole out sugar pills and tell the patient to call him in the morning - that's if he is still alive! Does anyone out there think that is right, not only for the patient, but for the doctor himself! They would be burnt out within a month. No time to go play Wednesday afternoon golf game. They did their time while going through internship working 20 hours a day! They paid good money to become doctors, and expect a return once they leave the confines of the hospital. That's one of the reasons UK doctors left their system and came to America! The UK gave them a salary, told them how many patients they could have, gave them a car and gasolene to go see patients who couldn't make it to his office - everything laid out for them, with no choices! If this plan Obama is cooking up for us, you can bet history will be repeating itself!

Yes, this is true, all due to the fact that the VA has historically been underfunded and understaffed. I have several veterans in my family, all of which use VA hospitals as their primary care providers who have been extremely pleased with the outstanding care they have received from them.

If the government is such a bugaboo and are so totally inept and evil consider that the military, Post Office, Social Security, Police departments, fire departments, county hospitals, licensing bureaus, parks and recreation facilities, state highway systems, local libraries, unemployment compensation and the like were all built/established, managed and run by the government.

The only problem that I can see is tightfisted, myopic and seflish constituents that have a "me-first and damn everyone else" attitude. They are the ones whose mouths are always open and their wallets always closed.

Well, to be sure, in the article you cited, the Palomar Hospital referenced for possible infections from colonoscopy procedures is not a government or VA hospital. So this isn't a problem with just government run hospitals. Aside: I do wish reporters had more curiousity, because I'm kind of gobsmacked at how handwashing dentals tools prior to putting them into cleaning machines somehow is worse than just putting them into cleaning machines without any prior cleaning. Isn't anybody else curious about that?

The VA system is a government run health care system. It has a better record, despite the exceptions mentioned than most private systems and is far cheaper than any private system. The health care industry as a whole has many problems, but most systems seek to solve and resolve those problems when they are discovered. The VA system is one of the most up to date systems in the world and would not be a bad model for a national system. That is not however the plan being proposed and currently debated. What is running through Congress right now is a plan to streamline health care coverage, not health care. The objective is to make health insurance more affordable.

Both my Father and my Mother, got their healthcare at Hines VA Medical Center near Chicago. I have taken both of them there at least once a month for the past 10 years, and have probably been in just about every section of that center. I have never seen one rat, or a patient with maggots. In fact, even though they weren't that bad to begin with, the conditions at Hines have improved greatly, and since they automated all of the medical records, the level of care has increased.

Don't blame the entire VA system for conditions at one or two cenrers, and in those, the problems have mostly been cleaned up.

I know you posted those numbers for their shock value, but you wouldn't dare try expressing them as a percentage of all patents treated at the VA, if you did, they would not support the point you are trying to make.

It is going to be terrible.

First they're going to provide affordable insurance that doesn't deny ever claim they think they can get away with.

Next we will experience a slight increase in taxes- which will probably be more than offset by making the wealthiest 10% start paying taxes again.

Then as the focus in the country moves towards preventative care- and the idea that wellness is not just the absence of ailment, but actually being healthy- we'll see overall health care costs go down (we currently spend about twice as much as other industrialized countries- in regards to GDP*).

In the final step I think Obama spikes everyone's drink and we all wake up in bathtubs full of ice while he merrily laughs all the way to some Asian black market organ exchange.

Several answers stating this is a 'government run health care system' but naively believe that the government would not be running the hospitals, clinics, etc. Can anyone possibly think that the gov't health system will not be in charge of what services these institutions can provide and to whom?`

If this administration is dictating salaries in some areas what would stop them from dictating doctors and other health care providers pay?

Let's get real!!!

No.

It will be like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and our schools.

Underfunded, over regulated and completely f*cked.\

St Eteinne: I for one have given up what coverage I could get. I have several problems AI could get treated for free at my local VA but prefer to use my insurance and pay my co-pays. Last major bill? Over $1000. But dealing with the local VA hospital is an unbelievable pain in the @ss. Appointments are set months away. Not days or weeks. It is the norm to have a 9:00am appointment but not see the doctor until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They have 2 urologists for over 60,000 patients (we are the only major VA hospital in the state). They lost my files every time I showed up.

True, there are some good VA's out there. But to many are underfunded, under staffed, under equipped and reside in 60+ year old facilities.

At the beginning of the wars, Democrats screamed bloody murder about how poorly our Veterans were being taken care of. Now that they are in control, you hear NOTHING. But things have only marginally improved.

No.

First of all, Obama is not going to bring in universal healthcare, a fact that many people (including those who voted for him) seem not to realise. He wants to make insurance more available to all.

Second, of course universal health-cover sucks. That is why we in Western Europe have it. We think, hmm, our healthcare system sucks. I know, lets keep it. I guess that is the same with Japan and Canada as well.

FACT - the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.

FACT - the US has higher death rates for kids aged under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.

That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, Cuba, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage.

I don't know why it would as hospitals, doctor's & nurses are NOT becoming Government employees. Why people think we are getting a single payer system in which Government owns hospitals & pay's salary is beyond me.

It's still private insurance companies with the possibility of a Government run Health care "policy" you can buy into (or have it provided for you if you can't afford it).