tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4148507369837201034.post4746727557389569252..comments2023-08-06T02:22:31.490-06:00Comments on clarity2009: "1,000 villagers wait for a dentist after just one NHS practice opens"Relax Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01051381168322495999noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4148507369837201034.post-3579723272574844482009-09-07T19:46:06.269-06:002009-09-07T19:46:06.269-06:00@A. - I hope you are right about us being able to ...@A. - I hope you are right about us being able to pull it off. And I tried to retype that small type; resizing it didn't work. An unknown wonder of blogspot. I hope it is better now.<br /><br />@Stephanie B - As usual we will have to agree to disagree. I don't think it has to be done all at once or is prudent to do so. Yes, the need is great and pressing. All the more reason to be careful and try to do it right.<br /><br />Tort reform is not even on the table, unfortunately, according to DNC chairman Howard Dean.<br /><br />Anyway, this all is argument for nothing. There is going to be a very expensive health care plan passed and it is going to come up short of what we need. You know that. I know that.<br /><br />I don't think you are ever going to get me to admit the government should "take over" anything. But they can play a part.Relax Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01051381168322495999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4148507369837201034.post-13914682663728574442009-09-07T07:10:10.341-06:002009-09-07T07:10:10.341-06:00Relax Max, I don't think Congress is capable o...Relax Max, I don't think Congress is capable of getting it all good the first go round. I'd love to see torte reform included (although torte reform is more than just healthcare), but I am not a proponent for bits and pieces at a time. Why?<br /><br />Because it's just so a big problem that it has to be attacked on several fronts at once. If you don't, the tiny steps will fail, even if everyone has the best will in the world (and, as has been clearly seen, that isn't the case).<br /><br />So, why am I not scared by this health care reform bill? Because it has two out of three of your big players there and because I can't imagine anything worse coming out of the government.<br /><br />People have said that the government screws everything up. Well, I beg to differ. We waited for the market to fix labor practices and environmental practices and people made in-roads, but it didn't really get addressed until the government (at the people's demands) did something. Now it may not be perfect, but children aren't working in factories any more and raw sewage is no longer being dumped into the water supply.<br /><br />When I look at history, I see a number of places no one ever expected the governmnet to need to step in, where the "market" was supposed to take care of its own, where greed failed to provide for anyone but the fat cats. When the government (belatedly because we WANT pure capitalism to work) stepped in, they never made it all better - but it was always (maybe almost always; I can't think of examples but perhaps you can; you're older than I am I think) better than it was before.<br /><br />I suspect it would have gone even better if we didn't wait until it had gone too far. I suspect that's true this time.<br /><br />By the way, we already have a decent number of doctors and hospitals per capita and spend more on healthcare than anyone else. I can't see how these reforms are going to mean more money spent per capita rather than less, at least in the long run. Just my opinion.Stephanie Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17772217449161603561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4148507369837201034.post-76539108888406556732009-09-07T06:42:31.246-06:002009-09-07T06:42:31.246-06:00The sheer size of the task is daunting, that's...The sheer size of the task is daunting, that's true. We are a smaller country and when the NHS was formed, we were smaller still. And it was a time of change, soon after the war.<br /><br />Have faith, though. You can do it.<br /><br />PS, is it just me, or is the size of some of that text so small as to be almost illegible?A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04709794851766685322noreply@blogger.com