No offense, but it was a little short-sighted of Arnold to let his COBRA enrollment expire, or leave the state that was paying for his drugs, without making sure that he would have gap coverage.
The big problem with universal health care is that as newer and more expensive treatments are developed, the cost of providing health care rises faster than any possible funding source. Here in socialist Canada, my provincial government has been reduced to consolidating hospitals, breaking union contracts, and ignoring the results of binding arbitration in order to keep health care costs below 50% of the budget.
What's more important, AIDS drugs for people like Arnold, or rape crisis centers, or having one single "safe house" for street youth under 16 (after their 16th birthday, street kids are supposed to be able to fend for themselves), or having courthouses in remote areas, or legal aid for the poor?
Of course, part of the reason that Canada's health care system is such a budget-breaker is that, unlike any other country in the world, it is truly a single-payer system - all health care of covered classes is provided, free, by the government. In other countries, people have the option of paying extra to get a higher level of service.
I don't have any answers... but the questions aren't as simple as you might think.
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Date: 2004-03-12 02:58 pm (UTC)The big problem with universal health care is that as newer and more expensive treatments are developed, the cost of providing health care rises faster than any possible funding source. Here in socialist Canada, my provincial government has been reduced to consolidating hospitals, breaking union contracts, and ignoring the results of binding arbitration in order to keep health care costs below 50% of the budget.
What's more important, AIDS drugs for people like Arnold, or rape crisis centers, or having one single "safe house" for street youth under 16 (after their 16th birthday, street kids are supposed to be able to fend for themselves), or having courthouses in remote areas, or legal aid for the poor?
Of course, part of the reason that Canada's health care system is such a budget-breaker is that, unlike any other country in the world, it is truly a single-payer system - all health care of covered classes is provided, free, by the government. In other countries, people have the option of paying extra to get a higher level of service.
I don't have any answers... but the questions aren't as simple as you might think.