First off, get it right, my name's Ed, not Bill!
At first I wasn't sure you were referring to me because I don't fit the "bottled up anger" comment. What's that all about, anyway?
Clearly, we have a little miscommunication going on here about the NYC Hospitals issue. Yes, the socialized hospitals RUN BY NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation are PURE CRAP. Ask anybody -- even Bloomberg. Giuliani has been very vocal about this, too. Ask any NYC cop if he would want to be taken to Bellevue, Metropolitan, Lincoln, or Harlem hospital after being shot, and you'll see him cower in fear. THAT IS THE STATE OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IN BIG CITIES LIKE NEW YORK. Maybe things are different in rural Canada, but those situations are not relevant to the 200+ Million Americans who live in big cities in the United States of America.
NY Presbyterian (AKA New York Hospital, AKA Cornell Weill) is an exceptional private hospital where people fly from all over the world for treatments for rare and difficult cancers and other ailments. The Shah of Iran even flew to NY to be treated at NY Hospital for cancer in 1979 (unfortunately, he died the following year in a hospital in Cairo
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/us/05newsom.html?fta=y). They flew him in for treatment at NY Hospital under a pseudonym despite massive international political pressure because NY Hospital was THE ONLY PLACE IN THE WORLD WHERE HE STOOD A CHANCE OF SURVIVING.
No Bobby, I didn't say that I'm better than a construction worker. I did say that I'm better than a welfare crackhead, though. Can't say I'd ever back away from that statement, either. There is no freakin' way a common welfare crackhead deserves the same standard of medical care that working people do.
Also, you and I both know well that unionized construction workers in NYC make a hell of a lot of money (most make in the six figures -- not bad for somebody without a HS diploma), and they have excellent union medical benefits. In fact, they cannot even nail in a nail without a foreman, an apprentice, and an assistant, all on the clock at the expense of the "evil, capitalist real estate developers". Wanna take a guess how I know so much about union construction work?
The idea that people are going without medical care because they don't have insurance is pure bull. Like I said, if you're too poor, then you can already qualify for Medicaid. People with astonishingly high incomes qualify for medicaid, and they get treatment that sometimes exceeds that of working people (example: NYPD's GHI does not cover a lap-band surgery for morbid obesity, whereas medicaid does).
Socializing medicine will only serve to destroy the high-end of the medical field, and guarantee that almost EVERYBODY gets the same crappy care that socialized hospitals already provide. Turns out that rich people will ALWAYS get better healthcare because they can hire their own doctors. The only people who will suffer are the hard-working middle class (that's you and me, Bobby) who cannot afford to have a doctor on staff at all times, and won't have health benefits provided by our employers anymore. Also, the commercialization of patents on medical devices and pharmaceuticals is what drives innovation and the search for cures. Socializing medicine would have horrific long-term effects that would bring all the progress we are making in curing and preventing ailments to a grinding halt.
I wish I could run up to Bear Mountain and meet you at the Lodge this weekend, but unfortunately, my story about the ER last Saturday was not just a made-up anecdote. I crashed my Goldwing last Saturday, and I messed up my left hip pretty badly. So, it hurts too much to ride just yet, and I refuse to ride under the influence of Vicodin. Plus, I'm waiting for a new front wheel to come via UPS. So, instead of riding, I'm going sailing this weekend!!!
I definitely will go for a few rides up there starting next weekend, though.
Bill, I love ya but you are so full of Sh1t it breaks my heart. So much bottled up anger is not a healthy thing. I was 25 years old and I had a kidney stone. My health insurance was free with no out of pocket. I wound up in a nice upscale hospital in Westchester. Two doctors and the nurses looked good and the food was fine. I am watching TV (also paid for) and I went channel 13 to our PBS station. I watched a documentary about NYC Hospitals in NYC, a working guy was brought into the ER with chest pains, he had health insurance etc. He went into cardiac arrest and they did not have a $13.00 set of leads to use on their defribulator. The doctors were cursing(it was PBS) as they tried to save this man and jury rig something. I watched him die on camera for $13.00. Sitting pretty as I was, I was disgusted at what I saw and it changed my thinking. Of course in your way of thinking, I deserved two Doctors and a nice comfy room since I was a highly paid professional and this guy was only a construction worker with a GED or less, they are a dime a dozen. You and I deserve better because we are better. If some poor family sweating out an existence at minimum wage can't afford to pay half their income to insure their lids, let's fine them so they can skip and meal or two a week.
I am a Conservative Republican, but I know right from wrong, and not helping the sick and elderly is just plain wrong. The country I live in and fought for, is, or should be better than that.
Having said that, If I see ya up around Bear Mountain, we can hit the Lodge and have coffee or a brew.
