Mutt

You're naive or disingenuous Robbie, even with the Democrats in control of Congress and the White House there was no way Obama and the Democrats would in one fell swoop dismantle the healthcare system and completely socialize/nationalize it. You know how powerful and rich the lobbies are who control the 2 parties, both of them get paid by the same groups - the political fallout would be humongous. I'm not even sure how these countries like Canada, the UK, France etc got to universal healthcare, a bit before my time, it couldn't have been overnight. The US system is extremely complex, many different interests, so even with Democrats being for universal healthcare they know it's going to be a gradual process.

I am in favor of a dual system, I believe every person deserves access to good healthcare, paid for by everybody who pays taxes no different than paying for schools and roads - the upper middle class and rich can pay for the best of the best healthcare/hospitals/doctors. In Canada, incredibly that's not allowed, everybody rich and poor gets the same treatment and services. If you want the best medicine can offer you have to leave the country, many of the rich do rather than wait their turn in long waiting lines. People are deluded by the government into believing that their healthcare isn't rationed, it absolutely is. In 95% of cases. and I'm just pulling that number out of my ass, the treatment they receive is very good, it's the same treatment they'd be recommended if they went to the Mayo Clinic for an opinion. The wait times, the overcrowding, suck but people just accept it.

The province of British Columbia, containing the city of Vancouver, a city the world thinks of as wealthy and world class, has TWO PET scanners to cover the entire large province - PET scanners are not that new, they are very expensive and very helpful in diagnosing and treating serious diseases like cancer. I will guarantee you that even the poorest US states have more than 2 PET scanners.

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